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 718

District of Wellington 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
261	24 June 1897	William James McIntyre Mary Jane Harris	William James McIntyre Mary Jane Harris 💍 1897/703 William Ebbetts Armstrong Mary Anne Harris 💍 1897/790	Bachelor Spinster	Engine Driver	24 21	Sanson Sanson	10 years 21 years	Registrars Office Wellington	97/1703		24 June 1897	F. W. Mansfield
262	24 June 1897	Andrew Dunstone Steffert Euphemia Effie Bowie	Andrew Swintone Steffert Euphemia Effie Bowie 💍 1897/1861	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier	21 19	Wellington Wellington	4 years 19 years	Registrars Office Wellington	97/3050	to person attending in City to Sign	8 July 1897	J. W. Mansfield
263	24 June 1897	John Duncan Buchanan Fanny Jane Fache		Bachelor Spinster	Printer	27 24	Clyde Wellington	7 months 7 months	St. Thomas Church Wellington	97/1788		24 June 1897	Rev. G. de B. Galway
264	24 June 1897	Edward Nicholas Rose Lawton	Edward Nicholas Rose Lawton 💍 1897/765	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	24 21	Wellington Wellington	4 years 12 months	Wesleyan Parsonage Wellington	97/1766		24 June 1897	Rev. W. Baumber
264A	25 June 1897	John Mousgrove Richards Janet Brock	James Murgrove Richards Janet Brock 💍 1897/807	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Teacher	26 26	Maikanal Maikanal	3 1/2 years 1 year	Residence of Rev. A. Evans	97/1812		25 June 1897	Rev. Albert Evans
265	28 June 1897	Samuel McGowan Sarah Ann Turkington	Samuel McGowan Sarah Ann Turkington 💍 1897/712	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 23	Pahiatua Wellington	8 years 10 months	Residence of Mrs. Vince, Jessie St. Wellington	97/1713		28 June 1897	Rev. J. K. Elliott
266	28 June 1897	James Augustine Foley Harriet Shutter	James Augustine Foley Harriet Shutler 💍 1897/808	Bachelor Widow	Tea Blender	32 39	Wellington Wellington	32 years 20 years	Congregational Manse Wellington	97/1813		28 June 1897	Rev. J. R. Glasson
267	28 June 1897	William Richard Rees Elizabeth Wilson	William Richard Rees Elizabeth Wilson 💍 1897/368 William Kinnaird Hendry Eliza Wilson 💍 1898/340	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	28 21	Wellington Wellington	7 months 21 years	Registrars Office Wellington	97/1704		28 June 1897	J. W. Mansfield
268	29 June 1897	George William Brigham Bessie Maud Cross	George William Brigham Bessie Maud Cross 💍 1897/811	Bachelor Widow	Surveyor	40 36	Wellington Wellington	3 years 8 years	St. Peters Church	97/1815		29 June 1897	Rev. W. C. Waters
269	29 June 1897	Henry Dewes Clementoon Mary Becker	Henry Dewes Clementson Mary Becker 💍 1897/714	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant, Bank	34 24	Wellington Wellington	3 years 8 years	Residence of Mr. R. Becker Wellington	97/1714		29 June 1897	Rev. J. K. Elliott

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).