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 794

District of Christchurch 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
258	10 June 1897	Frederick George Augustus Coombs Sophia Frances Emily Taylor	Frederick George Augustus Coombe Sophia Francis Emily Taylor 💍 1897/1132	Bachelor Spinster	Coach builder Tailoress	25 27	Christchurch Christchurch	23 years 20 years	St. Michael's Church	97/1993		10 June 1897	Rev. A. W. Averill, Church of England
259	10 June 1897	George William Grey Lizzie Gayer Smith	George William Gray Lizzie Gaynor 💍 1897/2078	Bachelor Spinster	Jeweller Domestic	26 24	Christchurch Christchurch	26 years 15 years	Roman Catholic Church, Barbadoes Street	97/3286		10 June 1897	Rev. Father Cumming, Roman Catholic
260	11 June 1897	Philip George Coffin Margaret Helen Wilson	Philip George Coffin Catherine Helen Priest 💍 1897/1149	Bachelor Widow	Farmer Farmer	31 30	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	St. John's Church, Latimer Square	97/2011		11 June 1897	Rev. H. M. Watson, Church of England
261	11 June 1897	Michael McCormick Mary Elizabeth O'Neill	Michael McCormick Mary Elizabeth O'Neill 💍 1897/2079	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic	29 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 1 week	Roman Catholic Church, Barbadoes Street	97/3287		11 June 1897	Rev. Father Cumming, Roman Catholic
262	11 June 1897	Ivan Rackley Ellen Ophelia Harding	Evan Rackley Ellen Ophelia Hording 💍 1897/1133	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	26 29	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 15 years	St. Michael's Church	97/1994		11 June 1897	Rev. A. W. Averill, Church of England
263	12 June 1897	William Downey Rosina Ellen Thompson	William Downey Rosina Ellen Thompson 💍 1897/4962	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	24 20	Christchurch Christchurch	24 years 20 years	Episcopalian Church, Prebbleton	97/2193	George Thompson, father	12 June 1897	Rev. W. T. Knowles, Church of England
264	14 June 1897	Willie Brown Emma Rountree	Willie Brown Emma Rountree 💍 1897/1187	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic	26 23	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 14 years	House of Mrs. Pennion, St. Asaph Street	97/2026		14 June 1897	Rev. J. Orchard, Wesleyan
265	16 June 1897	Charles William Colville Louisa Brook	Charles Colville Louisa Brook 💍 1897/2181	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	31 24	Christchurch Christchurch	15 years 24 years	House of Rev. D. Elmslie, Litchfield Street	97/3400		16 June 1897	Rev. D. Elmslie, Presbyterian

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).