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 706

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
138	14 April 1897	Ernest David Day Amy Sophia Clark	Ernest David Day Amy Sophia Clark 💍 1897/798	Bachelor Spinster	Gas-works employee	28 23	Wellington Wellington	10 months 7 days	Salvation Army Barracks	97/1795		14 April 1897	Rev. Reuben Edwards
139	14 April 1897	Michael James Bird Eleanor Chandler	Michael James Bird Eleanor Chandler 💍 1897/1280	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	30 26	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mrs. Chandler	97/2200		14 April 1897	Rev. S. Ogg
140	14 April 1897	Thomas Sutherland Elizabeth Ada Redstone	Thomas Sutherland Elizabeth Ada Redstone 💍 1897/816	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	31 30	Wellington Wellington		House of Mrs. Redstone, Hawker St.	97/1797		14 April 1897	Rev. H. B. Redstone
141	15 April 1897	Robert Donovan Mary McBeth	Robert Donovan Mary McBeth 💍 1897/779	Bachelor Spinster	Artillery	24 22	Wellington Wellington		House of Mr. Typeell, Courtenay Place	97/1783		15 April 1897	Rev. B. Hallowes
142	15 April 1897	Charles Herbert Walker Annie Hammond Follard	Charles Herbert Walker Annie Hammond Hollard 💍 1897/817	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	26 25	Wellington Petone		Wesleyan Church, Petone	97/1798		15 April 1897	Rev. J. H. Gray
143	15 April 1897	John Alexander Grighton Mabel Alice Pickard	John Alexandra Crighton Mabel Alice Pickard 💍 1897/781	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	30 20	Wellington Wai		House of Mrs. Pickard, Wainui	97/1785	Israel Pickard	15 April 1897	Rev. Alex. Thomson
144	15 April 1897	Ernest Thomas Forbes Leah Johnson	Ernest Thomas Forbes Leah Johnson 💍 1897/792	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	24 21	Petone Wellington	9 months 1 week	Anglican Church, Lower Hutt	97/1774		15 April 1897	Rev. J. Jones
145	20 April 1897	Peter Stephens Mary Emily Georgina Barrett	Peter Stephens Feod Mary Emily Georgina Barrett 💍 1897/730	Widower Spinster	Draper	30 18	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary of the Angels, Wellington	97/1731	Margaret Younger, Mother	20 April 1897	Rev. J. Devoy
146	20 April 1897	Charles Pierce Cotter Hannah Jane Pearson	Charles Pierce Cotter Hannah Jane Pearson 💍 1897/809	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 22	Silverstream Trentham		Anglican Church, Trentham	97/1796		20 April 1897	Rev. P. L. M. Cameron
147	20 April 1897	Alfred George Butts Embazine Penfolds	Alfred George Butts Embazine Penfold 💍 1897/775	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	22 20	Wellington Wellington		House of Mrs. Nicholl, Courtenay Place	97/1758	Nicholl, Mother	20 April 1897	Rev. H. Baumber

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).