Intentions to Marry, 1897 January-June

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840411, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, June 25 2025

1897 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 918

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 June 1897 Registrar Henry Hawthorne Grant Ralfe

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

1904

11 May 1897

Donald McLeod
Margaret McLeod

Donald McLeod
Margaret McLeod
💍 1897/1345

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

27
17

Awamoko
Awamoko

2 years
12 years

At the office of the Registrar of Marriages

97/2332

Angus McLeod, father

11 May 1897

Henry Hawthorne Grant Ralfe, Registrar of Marriages at Oamaru

No	1904
Date of Notice	11 May 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald McLeod	Margaret McLeod
	💍 1897/1345
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	27	17
Dwelling Place	Awamoko	Awamoko
Length of Residence	2 years	12 years
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	97/2332
Consent	Angus McLeod, father
Date of Certificate	11 May 1897
Officiating Minister	Henry Hawthorne Grant Ralfe, Registrar of Marriages at Oamaru

1905

13 May 1897

William Johnston
Cassandra Ellen Clutton

William Johnston
Cassandra Ellen Clutton
💍 1897/3469

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

37
27

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
3 days

At St. Luke's Church of England at Oamaru

97/2337

13 May 1897

Ven. Archdeacon H. G. Gould (Church of England)

No	1905
Date of Notice	13 May 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Johnston	Cassandra Ellen Clutton
	💍 1897/3469
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	37	27
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	At St. Luke's Church of England at Oamaru
Folio	97/2337
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1897
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon H. G. Gould (Church of England)

1906

14 May 1897

Thomas Beck
Mary Jane Paterson

Thomas Beck
Mary Jane Paterson
💍 1897/1347

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

29
25

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
14 days

At the office of the Registrar of Marriages

97/2333

14 May 1897

Henry Hawthorne Grant Ralfe, Registrar of Marriages at Oamaru

No	1906
Date of Notice	14 May 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Beck	Mary Jane Paterson
	💍 1897/1347
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	14 days
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	97/2333
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 May 1897
Officiating Minister	Henry Hawthorne Grant Ralfe, Registrar of Marriages at Oamaru

1907

17 May 1897

Richard Francis Direen
Mary Ann Margaret Westlake

Richard Francis Direen
Mary Anne Margaret Westlake
💍 1897/1351

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway platelayer

35
27

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
3 days

At the Roman Catholic Church at Reed Street

97/2338

17 May 1897

Very Rev. John Mackay (Roman Catholic Church)

No	1907
Date of Notice	17 May 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Francis Direen	Mary Ann Margaret Westlake
BDM Match (98%)	Richard Francis Direen	Mary Anne Margaret Westlake
	💍 1897/1351
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway platelayer
Age	35	27
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	At the Roman Catholic Church at Reed Street
Folio	97/2338
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 May 1897
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. John Mackay (Roman Catholic Church)

1908

18 May 1897

Alexander Symon
Margaret Smith

Alexander Symon
Margaret Smith
💍 1897/238

Alexander Kerr
Margaret Forson Smith
💍 1897/211

Charles Edward Borne
Margaret Smith
💍 1897/139

Widower
Spinster

Stoker

45
21

Oamaru
Oamaru

27 years
4 years

At the residence of the said Alexander Symon situate at Tweed Lane at Oamaru

97/4481

18 May 1897

Rev. William Wright, Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland

No	1908
Date of Notice	18 May 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Symon	Margaret Smith
	💍 1897/238
BDM Match (67%)	Alexander Kerr	Margaret Forson Smith
	💍 1897/211
BDM Match (63%)	Charles Edward Borne	Margaret Smith
	💍 1897/139
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Stoker
Age	45	21
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	27 years	4 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of the said Alexander Symon situate at Tweed Lane at Oamaru
Folio	97/4481
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 May 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Wright, Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1903. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).