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 308

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1897 Registrar J. M. Pearson

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

109

22 March 1897

John Seabourne Borland
Emily Marion Walker

John Seaborne Borland
Marion Emily Walker
💍 1897/1116

Bachelor
Spinster

Waiter
Domestic

26
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

25 years
1 year

House of Mr. Walsh, Rosewood

97/1955

22 March 1897

Rev. F. Pleuslie, Presbyterian

No	109
Date of Notice	22 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Seabourne Borland	Emily Marion Walker
BDM Match (71%)	John Seaborne Borland	Marion Emily Walker
	💍 1897/1116
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Waiter	Domestic
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	25 years	1 year
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Walsh, Rosewood
Folio	97/1955
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Pleuslie, Presbyterian

110

23 March 1897

Joseph Woods
Florence Elizabeth Sheppard

Joseph Woods
Florence Elizabeth Sheppard
💍 1897/4314

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
19

Christchurch
Christchurch

26 years
19 years

H. Andrews Church

97/1748

Father

23 March 1897

Rev. G. Webster, Presbyterian

No	110
Date of Notice	23 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Woods	Florence Elizabeth Sheppard
	💍 1897/4314
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	26 years	19 years
Marriage Place	H. Andrews Church
Folio	97/1748
Consent	Father
Date of Certificate	23 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Webster, Presbyterian

111

23 March 1897

John Tindall
Emma Davies

John Tindall
Emma Davies
💍 1897/3938

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer

31
33

Christchurch
Christchurch

14 years
33 years

Registrar Office

97/107

23 March 1897

Registrar J. W. Parkins

No	111
Date of Notice	23 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Tindall	Emma Davies
	💍 1897/3938
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer
Age	31	33
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	14 years	33 years
Marriage Place	Registrar Office
Folio	97/107
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Registrar J. W. Parkins

112

23 March 1897

Charles Alfred Burmeister
Florence May O'Hearn

Charles Alfred Burmeister
Florence May Otten
💍 1897/4441

Bachelor
Spinster

Draughtsman

27
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

27 years
17 years

Wesleyan Parsonage, St. Albans

97/169

23 March 1897

Rev. J. Ashcroft, Wesleyan

No	112
Date of Notice	23 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Alfred Burmeister	Florence May O'Hearn
BDM Match (90%)	Charles Alfred Burmeister	Florence May Otten
	💍 1897/4441
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draughtsman
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	27 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Parsonage, St. Albans
Folio	97/169
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Ashcroft, Wesleyan

113

24 March 1897

John Edward Henry
Elizabeth Brake

John Edward Fleming
Elizabeth Brake
💍 1897/3975

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer

27
28

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
28 years

Episcopalian Church, Lincoln

97/1743

24 March 1897

Rev. H. Northcote, Church of England

No	113
Date of Notice	24 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Edward Henry	Elizabeth Brake
BDM Match (84%)	John Edward Fleming	Elizabeth Brake
	💍 1897/3975
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	28 years
Marriage Place	Episcopalian Church, Lincoln
Folio	97/1743
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Northcote, Church of England

114

24 March 1897

Frederick Gray Hobbs
Alice King Bowie

Frederick George Hobbs
Alice King Bowie
💍 1897/4315

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

28
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

10 years
24 years

House of Mr. J. B. Bowie, Windmill Road, Sydenham

97/1749

24 March 1897

Rev. G. Webster, Presbyterian

No	114
Date of Notice	24 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Gray Hobbs	Alice King Bowie
BDM Match (91%)	Frederick George Hobbs	Alice King Bowie
	💍 1897/4315
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 years	24 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. J. B. Bowie, Windmill Road, Sydenham
Folio	97/1749
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Webster, Presbyterian

115

25 March 1897

Joseph Henry Sykes
Elizabeth Maud Fitzpatrick

Joseph Henry Sykes
Elizabeth Maud Fitzpatrick
💍 1897/3893

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinet Maker

22
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

13 years
9 years

Baptist Church, Lincoln Road, Spreydon

97/797

Father

25 March 1897

Rev. J. North, Baptist

No	115
Date of Notice	25 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Henry Sykes	Elizabeth Maud Fitzpatrick
	💍 1897/3893
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinet Maker
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	13 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Lincoln Road, Spreydon
Folio	97/797
Consent	Father
Date of Certificate	25 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. North, Baptist

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).