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 712

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
200	13 May 1897	Francesko Balricco Jane Duryer		Bachelor Spinster	Merchant Mariner	30 29	Wellington Wellington	Years Years	St. Mary of the Angels, Wellington	97/1739		13 May 1897	Rev. J. Ainsworth
201	14 May 1897	Thomas William George Spencer Agnes Cameron Rennie	Thomas William George Spencer Agnes Cameron Rennie 💍 1897/693	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	23 23	Wellington Wellington	Years Years	Registry Office, Wellington	97/1691		14 May 1897	W. Y. Wyatt
202	15 May 1897	Harry Worser Scott Ada Hill	Harry Worser Scott Ada Hill 💍 1897/787	Bachelor Spinster	Chemist	26 23	Wellington Wellington	3 days Years	House of Mr. Hill, Wallace St.	97/1771		15 May 1897	Rev. John Dawson
203	17 May 1897	Frederick William David Corres Stella Mary Cunningham	Frederick William David Jones Stella Mary Cunningham 💍 1897/324	Bachelor Spinster	Hotel Keeper	29 22	Wellington Wellington	months months	House of Mr. Dawson, Webb St.	97/1772		17 May 1897	Rev. Jno. Dawson
204	17 May 1897	Edward Yates Harriet Amy Justin	Edward Yates Harriett Amy Tustin 💍 1897/325	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 25	Wellington Wellington	3 days Years	Mr. Chisholm's house, 5 Pine St.	97/1778		17 May 1897	Rev. Wm. Lee
205	17 May 1897	Francis William Burt Effie Helena Retchford Bladen	Francis William Burt Effie Helena Retchford Bladen 💍 1897/795	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 27	Wellington Wellington	3 days	Wesleyan Church, Taranaki St.	97/1777		17 May 1897	Rev. A. C. Laury
206	17 May 1897	Frederick William Lash Kate Ruby Buckland	Fredrick William Lash Kate Ruby Buckland 💍 1897/1282	Bachelor Spinster	Civil Servant	27 22	Wellington Wellington	Years Years	House of Mrs. Buckland, Pipitea Street	97/2202		17 May 1897	Rev. C. S. Ogg
207	18 May 1897	Sidney Jobling Leonard Sarah Eliza Heyman	Sidney Jobbing Leonard Sarah Eliza Heyman 💍 1897/796	Bachelor Widow	Mariner	35 27	Wellington Wellington	Years Years	Wesleyan Church, Newtown	97/1779		18 May 1897	Rev. A. C. Laury
208	19 May 1897	George Henry Bradley Margaret Louise Martin	George Henry Bradley Margaret Louisa Martin 💍 1897/801	Bachelor Spinster	Hairdresser	26 23	Wellington Wellington	Years Years	House of Mrs. Martin, Broadway Terrace	97/1806		19 May 1897	Rev. G. R. Glasson
209	21 May 1897	Robert Hickling Mary Jane List	Robert Hickling Mary Jane List 💍 1897/782	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	29 20	Wellington Petone	18 months Years	Presbyterian Church, Petone	97/1786	William Abbott, Father	21 May 1897	Rev. A. Thomson

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).