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 782

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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
166	20 April 1897	Mortimer Suchleigh Frances Estelley Foster	Mortimer Suckling Frances Estelle Foster 💍 1897/3464	Bachelor Spinster	Boot Manufacturer	27 21	Christchurch Christchurch	16 years 18 years	St. Mary's Church, Halswell	97/2493	20 April 1897	Rev H. Williams, Church of England
167	21 April 1897	William Henry Shelphard Mary Jane O'Neill	William Henry Shephard Mary Jane O'Neill 💍 1897/1156	Widower Widow	Bridge Keeper	42 35	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 1 year	St. Andrew's Church	97/2017	21 April 1897	Rev. G. Webster, Presbyterian
168	21 April 1897	Frederick John Walkeline Helen Gore Bushell	Frederick John Wakelin Helen Gore Bushell 💍 1897/1209	Bachelor Domestic	Watchmaker	24 23	Christchurch Christchurch	14 years 15 months	St. Mary's Church	97/2020	21 April 1897	Rev H. A. Watson, Church of England
169	21 April 1897	Robert Hothers Vaughan Jane Maria Vaughan	Robert Struthers Jane Maria Vaughan 💍 1897/1210	Widower Widow	Ironmonger	55 37	Christchurch Sefton	23 years 19 months	St. Michael's Church, Sefton	97/2071	21 April 1897	Rev H. S. East, Church of England
170	21 April 1897	Edwin Murray Catherine Johnston	Edwin Murray Catherine Johnston 💍 1897/1170	Bachelor Spinster	Constable	29 27	Christchurch Christchurch	3 months 3 days	Presbyterian Church, North Belt	97/2032	21 April 1897	Rev R. Irvine, Presbyterian
171	21 April 1897	Robert Cowan Coard Sarah Coard	Robert Cowan Sarah Coard 💍 1897/1102	Bachelor Domestic	Carpenter	25 21	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 2 months	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	97/1964	21 April 1897	Registrar of Marriages
172	21 April 1897	George Thomas Jones Roshetta Emily Fisher	George Thomas Jones Rosehetta Emily Fisher 💍 1897/1169	Bachelor Spinster	Wool Classer	25 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 22 months	House of Rev J. Orchard, Madras St, Christchurch	97/2025	20 April 1897	Rev J. Orchard, Wesleyan

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).