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 830

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 June 1897

No	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
35	21 April 1897	William John Bond Emma Elizabeth Cain	William John Bond Emma Elizabeth Cain 💍 1897/4937	Bachelor Spinster	Piecer Domestic Servant	23 years 18 years	Timaru Timaru	13 years 3 years	Dwellinghouse of John Bond, York Street, Timaru	97/2168	Hans Cain, Father	21 April 1897	Rev. Peter F. Jones, Primitive Methodist Minister
36	21 April 1897	Samuel Henry Snell Catherine Ann Dunlap	Samuel Henry Snell Catherine Ann Dunlop 💍 1897/4946	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	27 years 22 years	Timaru Timaru	3 days 22 years	Anglican Church, Timaru	97/2154		21 April 1897	Rev. Waldron H. Orbell, Church of England Clergyman
37	24 April 1897	James Hay Helen Mabel de Cren	James Hay Helen Mabel Le Lieu 💍 1897/3672	Bachelor Spinster	Barrister & Solicitor	36 years 32 years	Timaru Timaru	3 days 3 days	Anglican Church, Timaru	97/2153		24 April 1897	Ven. Archdeacon Henry W. Harper, Church of England Clergyman
38	24 April 1897	James Patrick Kalaugher Mary Jane Hall	James Patrick Kalaugher Mary Jane Hall 💍 1897/4943	Bachelor Spinster	Schoolmaster	27 years 27 years	Seadown Timaru	12 months 15 years	Catholic Church, Timaru	97/2150		24 April 1897	Rev. William Joseph Lewis, Roman Catholic Priest
39	26 April 1897	Robert Charles Maidens Mary Moffatt	Robert Charles Maidens Mary Moffatt 💍 1897/4958	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	29 years 28 years	Timaru Beaconsfield	4 days 3 years	English Church, Beaconsfield	97/2190		26 April 1897	Rev. Lawrence C. Brady, Church of England Clergyman
40	30 April 1897	Duncan McArthur Agnes O'Brien	Duncan McArthur Agnes O'Brion 💍 1897/4929	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	23 years 23 years	Timaru Timaru	10 days 4 months	Dwellinghouse of Duncan McArthur, Buchanan's Paddock, Timaru	97/2161		30 April 1897	Rev. William Gillies, Presbyterian Minister
41	1 May 1897	Coll McKinnon Mary Jane Murray	Coll McKinnon Mary Jane Murray 💍 1897/4925	Bachelor Spinster	Trainer	26 years 21 years	Timaru Timaru	3 days 3 days	Registrar's Office, Timaru	97/2148		1 May 1897	Alex. Montgomery, Registrar
42	13 May 1897	Lawrence Henry Grammer Frances Stephenson	Lawrence Henry Grammor Frances Stephenson 💍 1897/4959	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	27 years 28 years	St. Andrews St. Andrews	3 days 3 days	Church of England, St. Andrews	97/2191		13 May 1897	Rev. L. C. Brady, Church of England Clergyman
43	29 May 1897	Miles McInnes Ada Hooffindin	Miles McInnes Ada Wooffindin 💍 1897/4930	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	27 years 23 years	Timaru Seadown	10 days 8 years	Manse of Rev. W. Gillies, Timaru	97/2162		29 May 1897	Rev. W. Gillies, Presbyterian Minister
44	31 May 1897	Cornelius Brosnan Nellie Murphy	Cornelius Brosnan Nellie Murphy 💍 1897/4944	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 years 21 years	Timaru Timaru	3 days 12 months	Catholic Church, Timaru	97/2151		31 May 1897	Rev. William Joseph Lewis, Roman Catholic Priest

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 1898. More registers will be added when the Archives NZ Wellington reading room re-opens in September 2025.

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).