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 150

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 March 1897 Registrar S. J. Jago

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

15 March 1897

Andrew Thomas
Susan Devlin

Andrew Thomas
Susan Develin
💍 1897/869

Bachelor
Spinster

Bullocks Driver
Domestic

36
25

Whana Whana
Napier

2 years
3 months

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Napier

97/326

15 March 1897

S. J. Jago, Registrar of Marriages

No	25
Date of Notice	15 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Thomas	Susan Devlin
BDM Match (96%)	Andrew Thomas	Susan Develin
	💍 1897/869
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bullocks Driver	Domestic
Age	36	25
Dwelling Place	Whana Whana	Napier
Length of Residence	2 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Napier
Folio	97/326
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1897
Officiating Minister	S. J. Jago, Registrar of Marriages

15 March 1897

Abraham Lincoln
Caroline Annie Morrissey

Abraham Lincoln
Caroline Annie Morissey
💍 1897/514

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic

25
23

Patoka
Maraekakaho

15 years
4 years

Residence of Bride's Grandfather at Maraekakaho

97/1501

15 March 1897

Rev. H. R. Klingenstein, Church of England

No	26
Date of Notice	15 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Abraham Lincoln	Caroline Annie Morrissey
BDM Match (98%)	Abraham Lincoln	Caroline Annie Morissey
	💍 1897/514
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Patoka	Maraekakaho
Length of Residence	15 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Bride's Grandfather at Maraekakaho
Folio	97/1501
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. R. Klingenstein, Church of England

29 March 1897

Wm. Albert Smith
Louisa Ann Prebble

William Albert Smith
Louisa Annie Prebble
💍 1897/4249

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Shop Assistant

25
24

Napier
Napier

5 years
26 years

Cathedral at Napier

97/334

29 March 1897

Dean Hovell, Church of England

No	28
Date of Notice	29 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wm. Albert Smith	Louisa Ann Prebble
BDM Match (80%)	William Albert Smith	Louisa Annie Prebble
	💍 1897/4249
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Shop Assistant
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Cathedral at Napier
Folio	97/334
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Dean Hovell, Church of England

29 March 1897

Wm. Cunningham
Mary Marshall-Thomson

Bachelor
Spinster

Waiter

24
25

Napier
Napier

2 years
4 days

Presbyterian Manse, Napier

97/1493

29 March 1897

Rev. J. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	29
Date of Notice	29 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wm. Cunningham	Mary Marshall-Thomson
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Waiter
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	2 years	4 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Napier
Folio	97/1493
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

24 March 1897

Henry Booker
Eilline Margaret Thear-M.N. Samplonghe

Henry Brooker
Eilline Margaret Lucas
💍 1897/870

Bachelor
Widow

Stationhand
Cook

34
24

Mangaohane
Napier

1 year
1 month

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Napier

97/327

18 March 1897

S. J. Jago, Registrar

No
Date of Notice	24 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Booker	Eilline Margaret Thear-M.N. Samplonghe
BDM Match (70%)	Henry Brooker	Eilline Margaret Lucas
	💍 1897/870
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Stationhand	Cook
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Mangaohane	Napier
Length of Residence	1 year	1 month
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Napier
Folio	97/327
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 March 1897
Officiating Minister	S. J. Jago, Registrar

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).