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 228

District of Wellington 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
45	8 February 1897	Louis Langssen Deborah Cooper	Louis Laugesen Deborah Cooper 💍 1897/4255	Widower Spinster	Sawmiller	54 26	Wellington Wellington	9 days years	House of Mrs. Paxall, Tasman St. Wellington	97/568		8 February 1897	Rev. A. R. Redstone
46	8 February 1897	Harry Conradi Cooper Harriet Sophia Moyall	Harry Conrad Cooper Harriet Sophia Myall 💍 1897/909	Bachelor Widow	Hawker	34 36	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's office, Wellington	97/493		8 February 1897	W. Y. Wyatt
47	8 February 1897	Alfred Parker Elizabeth Harriet Rowe	Alfred Parker Elizabeth Harriet Rowe 💍 1897/4306	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 20	Khandallah Khandallah	1 week 4 years	Roman Catholic Church, Johnsonville	97/581	Matthias Charles Rowe, Father	8 February 1897	Rev. John Lane
48	9 February 1897	James Johnston Annastatia Furlong	James Johnston Anastatia Furlong 💍 1897/3844	Bachelor Spinster	Confectioner	36 28	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary of the Angels, Wellington	97/541		9 February 1897	Reverend Thomas Devoy V.G.
49	10 February 1897	Arthur Parkin Emma Mears	Arthur Parkin Emma Mears 💍 1897/910	Bachelor Spinster	Sailor	23 19	Wellington Wellington	8 months years	Registrar's office, Wellington	97/494	Sarah Ann Mears, Mother	10 February 1897	W. J. Wyatt
50	11 February 1897	Luke Polla Mounter Florence Mabel Churcher	Luke Polla Mounter Florence Mabel Churche 💍 1897/4257	Bachelor Spinster	Sign Writer	24 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mrs. Churcher, Arthur St. Wellington	97/558	Jane Churcher, Mother	11 February 1897	Rev. James Guy
51	11 February 1897	Rivers Johnson Lee Mary Elizabeth Stubbs	Rivers Johnson Loe Mary Elizabeth Stubbs 💍 1897/3929	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	27 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington	97/509		11 February 1897	Rev. J. H. Sprott
52	13 February 1897	George John Startup Edith May Coppuss	George John Startup Edith May Coppins 💍 1897/4300	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	30 24	Wellington Wellington	16 months 1 week	Wesleyan Methodist Church, Modesworth St. Wellington	97/572		13 February 1897	Rev. A. B. Chappell
53	13 February 1897	Arthur George Murdoch Barbara Cochrane	Arthur George Murdock Barbara Cockrane 💍 1897/4258	Bachelor Spinster	Builder	26 16	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Rev. J. Guy, Cuba St. Wellington	97/559	Eliza Haggie, Mother	13 February 1897	Rev. James Guy
54	15 February 1897	Frederick Laurence Dean Catherine Chisholm	Frederick Lawrence Dean Catherine Chisholm 💍 1897/3845	Bachelor Spinster	Musician	31 27	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Joseph's Church, Buckle St. Wellington	97/542		15 February 1897	Rev. Thomas Devoy V.G.
55	15 February 1897	Arthur Fitzroy Bonham King Sophia Gainsford Bacon	Arthur Fitzroy Bonham King Sophia Gainsford Bacon 💍 1897/3915	Bachelor Widow	Bank Cashier	41 41	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mark's Church, Wellington	97/519		15 February 1897	Rev. R. Coffey

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).