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 708

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
159	21 April 1897	Frank Henry Barlow Charlotte Condon	Frank Henry Barlow Charlotte Conder 💍 1897/819	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	25 21	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	House of Mrs. Condon, Te Aro Street	97/1800		21 April 1897	Rev. G. Dallaston
160	22 April 1897	James Stewart Johnston Howard Hannah Mary McKay	James Stewart Johnston Howard Hannah Mary McKay 💍 1897/718	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	24 20	Wellington Wellington		St. Marks Church, Wellington	97/1718	J. McKay Father	22 April 1897	Rev. R. Coffey
161	22 April 1897	Michael O'Meara Bella Collins	Michael Omeara Bella Collins 💍 1897/731	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	33 21	Wellington Wellington	3 days months	St. Mary of the Angels, Wellington	97/1732		22 April 1897	Rev. J. Devoy
162	22 April 1897	John James Keefe Margaret Sexton	John James Keefe Margaret Sexton 💍 1897/679	Bachelor Spinster	Surveyor	22 21	Wellington Wellington	years	Registrars Office, Wellington	97/1678		22 April 1897	H. J. Wyatt
163	24 April 1897	Fred Mowlem Rose Emma Green	Fred Mowlem Rose Emma Green 💍 1897/680	Bachelor Spinster	Auctioneer	21 19	Wellington Wellington	3 days 6 days	Registrars Office, Wellington	97/1679	F. M. Green father	22 April 1897	H. J. Wyatt
164	24 April 1897	Matthew Beattie Isabella McKenzie	Matthew Beattie Isabella McKenzie 💍 1897/1281	Bachelor Spinster	Station Manager	47 31	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	St. Andrews Church, Terrace	97/2201		24 April 1897	Rev. G. Ogg
165	24 April 1897	Patrick Dwyer Maria McCarthy	Patrick Dwyer Maria McCarthy 💍 1897/732	Widower Spinster	Hotel Keeper	39 36	Wellington Wellington		St. Mary of the Angels, Wellington	97/1733		24 April 1897	Rev. J. Devoy
166	24 April 1897	Arthur Thos. Martin Williams Ada Eliza Webb	Arthur Theo Martin Williams Ada Eliza Webb 💍 1897/1426	Bachelor Spinster	Electrical Engineer	26 22	Wellington Wellington		House of Mrs. Daly, Thorndon Quay	97/2486		24 April 1897	Rev. Jas. Paterson
167	24 April 1897	David Clarkson Turnbull Agnes Calander Roberts	David Campbell Turnbull Agnes Callander Roberts 💍 1897/717	Bachelor Spinster	Grain Merchant	29 28	Wellington Wellington	4 days	St. Marks Church, Wellington	97/1719		24 April 1897	Rev. R. Coffey
168	24 April 1897	William Archie Kelly Emily Henrich Gibb	William Archie Kelly Emilie Heinrich Gibb 💍 1897/754	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	32 31	Wellington Wellington	years 4 days	House of Mrs. Kelly, Vivian Street	97/1756		24 April 1897	Rev. W. Baumber
169	26 April 1897	Luke Spellman Delia McDermott	Luke Spellman Delia McDermott 💍 1897/733	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	25 24	Wellington Wellington	weeks years	St. Mary of the Angels, Boulcott Street	97/1734		26 April 1897	Rev. J. Devoy

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).