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 226

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
16	11 January 1897	Frederick Jackson Edith Rose King	Frederick Jackson Edith Rose King 💍 1897/3927	Bachelor Spinster	Bricklayer	24 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. King, Ebor Street	97/530	Harriet Thring King, mother	11 January 1897	Revd. I. K. Elliott
17	12 January 1897	Arthur Illingworth Annie Meyer	William Illingworth Annie Meyer 💍 1897/3866	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	22 19	Wellington Wellington		St. Joseph's Church, Thorndon Street	97/539	John Henrich Meyer, father	12 January 1897	Revd. J. Ainsworth
18	12 January 1897	Arthur Frederick Hawkins Susie Fanny May Brunger	Arthur Frederick Hawkins Susan Fanny May Brunger 💍 1897/4289	Bachelor Spinster	Bushman	20 26	Wellington Wellington		St. Thomas Church, Newtown	97/570	Frederick Henry Hawkins, father	12 January 1897
19	12 January 1897	William Hamilton Turnbull Hilda Jane Johnston	William Hamilton Turnbull Hilda Jane Johnston 💍 1897/3864	Bachelor Spinster	Merchant	28 25	Wellington Wellington		St. Mary's Cathedral, Hill Street	97/537		12 January 1897	Revd. J. Dawson
20	12 January 1897	Harry Rountree Minnie Ellison	Harry Rowntree Minnie Ellison 💍 1897/3859	Bachelor Spinster	Joiner	22 21	Wellington Wellington		House of Mr. Ellison, Webb Street	97/555		12 January 1897	Revd. B. J. Hallowes
21	12 January 1897	William James Standley Florence Elizabeth Parsons	William James Standley Florence Elizabeth Parsons 💍 1897/3914	Bachelor Spinster	Commission Agent	28 26	Wellington Wellington	3 days 1 day	St. Mark's Church, Wellington	97/578		12 January 1897	Revd. R. Coffey
22	13 January 1897	John George Ruddell Clark Rosina Alice Darling	John George Ruddenklan Clark Rosina Alice Darling 💍 1897/3912	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	29 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Peter's Church, Wellington	97/576		13 January 1897	Revd. W. G. Waters
23	14 January 1897	William Joseph Connor Lillie Walton Davies	William Joseph Conner Lillie Walton Davies 💍 1897/3917	Bachelor Spinster	Steward	24 21	Wellington Wellington		House of Mr. Davies, Nairn Street	97/521		14 January 1897	Revd. William Baumber
24	18 January 1897	Edwin Jamerson Bell Nellie Frederick	Edwin Jamerson Bell Nellie Frederick 💍 1897/4252	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	21 22	Wellington Wellington	7 months 11 months	Home of Bride, Wellington	97/556		18 January 1897	Revd. James Guy
25	18 January 1897	Walter Henry Marple Nellie Louise Andrews	Walter Henry Marple Nellie Louise Andrews 💍 1897/3916	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	22 21	Wellington Wellington	1 week	Wesley Parsonage, Taranaki Street	97/520		18 January 1897	Revd. William Baumber
26	18 January 1897	Jasman Steinmuller Kate Hodges	Tasman Steinmuller Kate Hodges 💍 1897/925	Bachelor Spinster	Tinsmith	23 18	Ngahauranga, Kaiwarra Ngahauranga, Kaiwarra	3 months years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	97/485	Carter Hodges, father	18 January 1897	W. J. Wyatt
27	18 January 1897	Harry White Alice Maud Ellison	Harry White Alice Maud Ellison 💍 1897/4254	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	39 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. McWilliams, Dixon Street	97/567		18 January 1897	Revd. Harry Blake Redstone
28	21 January 1897	William Allan Pickard Kate Augustus	William Allan Pickard Kate Augustus 💍 1897/926	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	22 21	Wellington Wellington	19 months 6 months	Registrar's Office, Wellington	97/486		21 January 1897	W. J. Wyatt
29	23 January 1897	Walter William Mudgeway Emily Pilcher	Walter William Mudgway Emily Pilcher 💍 1897/927	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 24	Lower Hutt Lower Hutt	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	97/487		23 January 1897	W. J. Wyatt
30	25 January 1897	John Humphrey Caroline Britt	John Humphrey Caroline Jane Britt 💍 1897/928	Bachelor Spinster	Coach Builder	21 22	Wellington Wellington	4 days	Registrar's Office, Wellington	97/488		25 January 1897	W. J. Wyatt

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).