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 Registrar Alex. Montgomery

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

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

No	35
Date of Notice	21 April 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Bond	Emma Elizabeth Cain
	💍 1897/4937
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Piecer	Domestic Servant
Age	23 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	13 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of John Bond, York Street, Timaru
Folio	97/2168
Consent	Hans Cain, Father
Date of Certificate	21 April 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. Peter F. Jones, Primitive Methodist Minister

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

No	36
Date of Notice	21 April 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Henry Snell	Catherine Ann Dunlap
BDM Match (98%)	Samuel Henry Snell	Catherine Ann Dunlop
	💍 1897/4946
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	27 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Timaru
Folio	97/2154
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 April 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. Waldron H. Orbell, Church of England Clergyman

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

No	37
Date of Notice	24 April 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Hay	Helen Mabel de Cren
BDM Match (89%)	James Hay	Helen Mabel Le Lieu
	💍 1897/3672
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barrister & Solicitor
Age	36 years	32 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Timaru
Folio	97/2153
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 April 1897
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon Henry W. Harper, Church of England Clergyman

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

No	38
Date of Notice	24 April 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Patrick Kalaugher	Mary Jane Hall
	💍 1897/4943
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolmaster
Age	27 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Seadown	Timaru
Length of Residence	12 months	15 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	97/2150
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 April 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Joseph Lewis, Roman Catholic Priest

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

No	39
Date of Notice	26 April 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Charles Maidens	Mary Moffatt
	💍 1897/4958
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Servant
Age	29 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Beaconsfield
Length of Residence	4 days	3 years
Marriage Place	English Church, Beaconsfield
Folio	97/2190
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 April 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. Lawrence C. Brady, Church of England Clergyman

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

No	40
Date of Notice	30 April 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Duncan McArthur	Agnes O'Brien
BDM Match (96%)	Duncan McArthur	Agnes O'Brion
	💍 1897/4929
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	23 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	10 days	4 months
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of Duncan McArthur, Buchanan's Paddock, Timaru
Folio	97/2161
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 April 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Gillies, Presbyterian Minister

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

No	41
Date of Notice	1 May 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Coll McKinnon	Mary Jane Murray
	💍 1897/4925
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Trainer
Age	26 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Timaru
Folio	97/2148
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 May 1897
Officiating Minister	Alex. Montgomery, Registrar

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

No	42
Date of Notice	13 May 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lawrence Henry Grammer	Frances Stephenson
BDM Match (98%)	Lawrence Henry Grammor	Frances Stephenson
	💍 1897/4959
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	27 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	St. Andrews	St. Andrews
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Church of England, St. Andrews
Folio	97/2191
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. C. Brady, Church of England Clergyman

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

No	43
Date of Notice	29 May 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Miles McInnes	Ada Hooffindin
BDM Match (96%)	Miles McInnes	Ada Wooffindin
	💍 1897/4930
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	27 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Seadown
Length of Residence	10 days	8 years
Marriage Place	Manse of Rev. W. Gillies, Timaru
Folio	97/2162
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Gillies, Presbyterian Minister

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

No	44
Date of Notice	31 May 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cornelius Brosnan	Nellie Murphy
	💍 1897/4944
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	12 months
Marriage Place	Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	97/2151
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1897
Officiating Minister	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 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).