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 292

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 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
8	8 January 1897	William Davidson Ellen Mackay	William Davidson Ellen Mackay 💍 1897/4514 William Dixon Eleanor Mackay 💍 1897/4431	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Domestic	34 28	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 4 days	St. Andrews Manse, Christchurch	97/740		8 January 1897	Rev G. Webster, Presbyterian
9	9 January 1897	Thomas Cockburn Jane Kitchener Heslop	Thomas Cockburn Thomson Jane Kitchener Heslop 💍 1897/3942	Bachelor Spinster	Mattress Maker	27 24	Christchurch North Belt	16 years	Presbyterian Church, Christchurch	97/711		9 January 1897	Rev R. Brown, Presbyterian
10	13 January 1897	Walter John Walker Elizabeth Alice Palmer	Walter John Walker Elizabeth Alice Palmer 💍 1897/4429	Bachelor Spinster	Fisherman	35 27	Christchurch Burwood	35 years	Episcopalian Church, Christchurch	97/778		13 January 1897	Rev F. R. Inwood, Church of England
11	13 January 1897	Edwin John Palmer Louisa Rose Heydon	Edwin John Palmer Louisa Rose Heyde 💍 1897/4430	Bachelor Spinster	Dairyman	26 23	Christchurch Burwood	21 years	Episcopalian Church, Christchurch	97/779		13 January 1897	Rev F. R. Inwood, Church of England
12	14 January 1897	Edwin Beckingsale Eliza Annold	Edwin Beckingsale Eliza Cunnold 💍 1897/3499	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Domestic	22 22	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years	Salvation Army Barracks, Christchurch	97/3316		14 January 1897	Mr Allan Fisher, Salvation Army Officer
13	14 January 1897	Samuel Arthur Clayton James Frank Phillis Ford	Samuel Arthur Clayton James Martha Phillis Dodd 💍 1897/3951	Widower Spinster	Baker	33 28	Christchurch Christchurch	23 years 28 years	House of Mr. George Robinson, Hereford Street, Christchurch	97/719		14 January 1897	Rev J. J. Blake, Baptist
521	29 December 1896	William Henry M. January Priscilla France	William Henry McSaveny Priscilla Pearce 💍 1897/4330	Bachelor Spinster	Wool Washer Domestic	25 20	Christchurch		Registrar's Office, Christchurch	97/688	No person giving consent	14 January 1897	Registrar J. M. Macfarlane

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).