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 306

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1897 Registrar J. J. Malleeson

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

16 March 1897

Frank Reid
Ellen Drinkwater

Frank Neil Marguet
Ellen Drinkwater
💍 1897/3959

Bachelor
Spinster

Woolsorter
Fitter

21
18

Christchurch
Christchurch

21 years
18 years

Registrars Office

97/704

Rose Ann Drinkwater, mother

16 March 1897

J. W. Parkerson, Registrar

No	95
Date of Notice	16 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Reid	Ellen Drinkwater
BDM Match (72%)	Frank Neil Marguet	Ellen Drinkwater
	💍 1897/3959
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Woolsorter	Fitter
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	21 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office
Folio	97/704
Consent	Rose Ann Drinkwater, mother
Date of Certificate	16 March 1897
Officiating Minister	J. W. Parkerson, Registrar

18 March 1897

Henry Joseph Hamish
Christina Hoff

Henry Joseph Hannibal
Hermina Christina Hoft
💍 1897/4428

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

32
19

Christchurch
Christchurch

13 days
19 years

St. Michaels Church

97/760

Hermann Hoff, father

18 March 1897

Rev. A. W. Averill, Church of England

No	96
Date of Notice	18 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Joseph Hamish	Christina Hoff
BDM Match (68%)	Henry Joseph Hannibal	Hermina Christina Hoft
	💍 1897/4428
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	32	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	13 days	19 years
Marriage Place	St. Michaels Church
Folio	97/760
Consent	Hermann Hoff, father
Date of Certificate	18 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. W. Averill, Church of England

18 March 1897

Hugh Evans
Annie Hardcastle

Hugh Monro
Annie Hardcastle
💍 1897/4435

Bachelor
Spinster

Master Mariner

34
31

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 month
6 years

St. Michaels Church

97/761

18 March 1897

Rev. A. W. Averill, Church of England

No	97
Date of Notice	18 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Evans	Annie Hardcastle
BDM Match (75%)	Hugh Monro	Annie Hardcastle
	💍 1897/4435
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Master Mariner
Age	34	31
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 month	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Michaels Church
Folio	97/761
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. W. Averill, Church of England

18 March 1897

James Pole Hughson
Emma Haigh

James Pole Hughson
Emma Haigh
💍 1897/3974

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter

24
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
24 years

Church of Christ, Durham Street

97/742

18 March 1897

Rev. J. Orchard, Wesleyan Methodist

No	98
Date of Notice	18 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Pole Hughson	Emma Haigh
	💍 1897/3974
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	24 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Durham Street
Folio	97/742
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Orchard, Wesleyan Methodist

18 March 1897

Arthur James Race
Annie Elizabeth Anderson

Arthur James Pearse
Annie Elizabeth Anderson
💍 1897/1173

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
32

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 years
32 years

St. Albans Wesleyan Church

97/2035

18 March 1897

Rev. J. Horsford, Wesleyan

No	99
Date of Notice	18 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur James Race	Annie Elizabeth Anderson
BDM Match (89%)	Arthur James Pearse	Annie Elizabeth Anderson
	💍 1897/1173
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	32
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	32 years
Marriage Place	St. Albans Wesleyan Church
Folio	97/2035
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Horsford, Wesleyan

100

18 March 1897

William John Kinley
Mary Ann Catherine Fletcher

William John Kinley
Mary Ann Catherine Fletcher
💍 1897/3936

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

21
18

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
18 years

Registrars Office

97/705

John Fletcher, father

18 March 1897

J. W. Parkerson, Registrar

No	100
Date of Notice	18 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Kinley	Mary Ann Catherine Fletcher
	💍 1897/3936
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	18 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office
Folio	97/705
Consent	John Fletcher, father
Date of Certificate	18 March 1897
Officiating Minister	J. W. Parkerson, Registrar

101

19 March 1897

Colin Campbell Harrison
Mary Constance Frear

Colin Campbell Harrison
Mary Constance Frear
💍 1897/4423

Bachelor
Spinster

Wesleyan Minister

29
30

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 days
11 years

Woolston Wesleyan Church

97/773

19 March 1897

Rev. W. J. Elliott, Wesleyan

No	101
Date of Notice	19 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Colin Campbell Harrison	Mary Constance Frear
	💍 1897/4423
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wesleyan Minister
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 days	11 years
Marriage Place	Woolston Wesleyan Church
Folio	97/773
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Elliott, Wesleyan

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).