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 381

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1897 Registrar MJ Hall

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

20 January 1897

John Dyer
Bridget Charley

John Dyer
Bridget Charley
💍 1897/4727

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

38 years
26 years

South Dunedin
South Dunedin

1 week
1 week

St. Patrick's Church

97/974

20 January 1897

Rev. P. O'Neill, Roman Catholic Priest

No	20
Date of Notice	20 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Dyer	Bridget Charley
	💍 1897/4727
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	38 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	South Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 week	1 week
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church
Folio	97/974
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. O'Neill, Roman Catholic Priest

20 January 1897

George Cross
Martha Cormack

George Cross
Martha Cormack
💍 1897/4518

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25 years
20 years

Portobello
Portobello

5 years
13 years

In the house of John Cormack

97/1004

John Cormack, father of bride

20 January 1897

Rev. A. Greig, Presbyterian Minister

No	21
Date of Notice	20 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Cross	Martha Cormack
	💍 1897/4518
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Portobello	Portobello
Length of Residence	5 years	13 years
Marriage Place	In the house of John Cormack
Folio	97/1004
Consent	John Cormack, father of bride
Date of Certificate	20 January 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Greig, Presbyterian Minister

20 January 1897

Thomas Lane Martin
Doris Mandeville Knewstub

Thomas Lane Martin
Doris Manderville Knewstub
💍 1897/3407

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

22 years
24 years

Roslyn
Dunedin

22 years
11 months

In the house of Rev. Isaac Rickman McIntyre

97/980

20 January 1897

Rev. R. McIntyre, Presbyterian Minister

No	22
Date of Notice	20 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Lane Martin	Doris Mandeville Knewstub
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Lane Martin	Doris Manderville Knewstub
	💍 1897/3407
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	22 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Roslyn	Dunedin
Length of Residence	22 years	11 months
Marriage Place	In the house of Rev. Isaac Rickman McIntyre
Folio	97/980
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. McIntyre, Presbyterian Minister

23 January 1897

Hermann Tankersley Dodds
May Mood Long

Hermann Tankusley Dodd
May Wood Long
💍 1897/4530

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

34 years
24 years

Dunedin
Woodhaugh

5 years
11 years

In the house of Robert Long, Woodhaugh

97/993

23 January 1897

Rev. H. E. Bellhouse, Wesleyan Minister

No	23
Date of Notice	23 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hermann Tankersley Dodds	May Mood Long
BDM Match (90%)	Hermann Tankusley Dodd	May Wood Long
	💍 1897/4530
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	34 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Woodhaugh
Length of Residence	5 years	11 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Robert Long, Woodhaugh
Folio	97/993
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. E. Bellhouse, Wesleyan Minister

25 January 1897

John Nathaniel Martins
Euphemia Hoy Beath

John Nathaniel Mortin
Euphemia Hoy Beath
💍 1897/4529

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

26 years
26 years

North East Valley
North East Valley

10 years
12 years

In the Presbyterian Church

97/992

25 January 1897

Rev. D. Borrie, Presbyterian Minister

No	24
Date of Notice	25 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Nathaniel Martins	Euphemia Hoy Beath
BDM Match (95%)	John Nathaniel Mortin	Euphemia Hoy Beath
	💍 1897/4529
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	26 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	North East Valley	North East Valley
Length of Residence	10 years	12 years
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Church
Folio	97/992
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Borrie, Presbyterian Minister

26 January 1897

Francis Henry Westwoods
Gertrude Chettleburgh

Francis Henry Westwood
Gertrude Chettleburgh
💍 1897/4477

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

31 years
22 years

Caversham
Maori Hill

4 years
16 years

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

97/935

26 January 1897

M. J. Hall, Registrar of Marriages

No	25
Date of Notice	26 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Henry Westwoods	Gertrude Chettleburgh
BDM Match (98%)	Francis Henry Westwood	Gertrude Chettleburgh
	💍 1897/4477
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	31 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Caversham	Maori Hill
Length of Residence	4 years	16 years
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	97/935
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1897
Officiating Minister	M. J. Hall, Registrar of Marriages

27 January 1897

Charles Henry Mawers
Sarah Ann Emily Gibbs

Charles Henry Mawer
Sarah Ann Emily Gibbs
💍 1897/4484

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

34 years
24 years

St. Kilda
St. Kilda

3 years
10 years

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

97/936

27 January 1897

M. J. Hall, Registrar of Marriage

No	26
Date of Notice	27 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Mawers	Sarah Ann Emily Gibbs
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Henry Mawer	Sarah Ann Emily Gibbs
	💍 1897/4484
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	34 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	St. Kilda	St. Kilda
Length of Residence	3 years	10 years
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	97/936
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1897
Officiating Minister	M. J. Hall, Registrar of Marriage

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 1903. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).