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 492

District of Auckland 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
243	3 May 1897	Charles Richard Harpes Gertrude Alexander Emery	Charles Richard Hayes Gertrude Alexandra Emery 💍 1897/4677	Bachelor Spinster	Circus artist	27 21	Auckland Auckland	3 months 4 months	St. Matthew's Church	97/1257	3 May 1897	Rev. F. FitzGerald, Church of England
244	3 May 1897	Joseph Simpkin Annie Dreadon	Joseph Simpkin Annie Dreadon 💍 1897/4854	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	28 26	N. Wairoa Auckland	5 years 18 months	House of Mr. H. Payne	97/1188	3 May 1897	Mr. J. Bull, Church of Christ
245	3 May 1897	James Bottles Maria Sullivan	James Bottles Maria Sullivan 💍 1897/850	Bachelor Spinster	Gum digger	27 30	Auckland Auckland	3 years 7 months	Registrar's Office	97/1135	3 May 1897	E. S. Lyon, Registrar
246	3 May 1897	Robert Bear Walker Annie Lodge	Robert Oscar Walker Annie Lodge 💍 1897/812	Bachelor Spinster	Groom	21 21	Auckland Auckland	21 years 31 years	House of Mr. Walker, York Street, Parnell	97/1816	3 May 1897	Rev. A. Mitchel, Wesleyan
247	3 May 1897	George Dilly Elizabeth Mary Harris	George Dilly Elizabeth Mary Harris 💍 1897/4757	Widower Widow	Cabinet maker	56 54	Auckland Auckland	32 years 16 years	House of Mr. M. Dilly	97/1185	3 May 1897	Mr. J. Bull, Church of Christ
248	4 May 1897	John Davidson Eastfield Louise Slater	John Davidson Eastfield Louise Slater 💍 1897/960	Bachelor Widow	Agent	45 39	Auckland Auckland	38 years 39 years	House of Bridegroom, Wellesley Street	97/1279	4 May 1897	Rev. R. F. Macnicol, Presbyterian
249	5 May 1897	John Herbert Watson Isabella Lucy Rowbottom	John Herbert Watson Isabella Lucy Rowbottom 💍 1897/4865	Divorced Spinster	Farmer	39 28	Waiheke Waiheke	5 years 6 months	Congregational Church, Beresford Street	97/1189	5 May 1897	Rev. G. Burgess, F.R.A.S., Congregational Independent

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).