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 100

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 March 1897 Registrar E. Horriss

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 February 1897

Thomas Wilson Kalub Scott
Clara Lidgard

Thomas Wilson Caleb Scott
Clara Lidgard
💍 1897/4103

Bachelor
Spinster

Bush Contractor
None

26
21

Thames
Thames

17 years
21 years

The Dwelling of Joseph Lidgard Parawai

97/178

15 February 1897

Rev. Samuel J. Serpell, Wesleyan

No	14
Date of Notice	15 February 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Wilson Kalub Scott	Clara Lidgard
BDM Match (96%)	Thomas Wilson Caleb Scott	Clara Lidgard
	💍 1897/4103
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bush Contractor	None
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	17 years	21 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of Joseph Lidgard Parawai
Folio	97/178
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. Samuel J. Serpell, Wesleyan

20 February 1897

Philip Otto
Alice Smith

Philip Otto
Alice Smith
💍 1897/4125

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Tailoress

22
19

Thames
Thames

2 years
19 years

St. George's Church, Mackay St, Thames

97/184

George Gregory Smith, Father

20 February 1897

Rev. T. O'Callaghan, D.D. Church of England

No	15
Date of Notice	20 February 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip Otto	Alice Smith
	💍 1897/4125
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Tailoress
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St. George's Church, Mackay St, Thames
Folio	97/184
Consent	George Gregory Smith, Father
Date of Certificate	20 February 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. O'Callaghan, D.D. Church of England

2 March 1897

George Henry Vowles
Violet Mary Elizabeth Sarah Newland

George Henry Vowles
Violet Mary Elizabeth Sarah Newland
💍 1897/4126

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
None

24
20

Kiri Kiri, Thames
Kiri Kiri, Thames

3 days
20 years

St. George's Church, Mackay St, Thames

97/185

Henry George Newland, Father

6 March 1897

Rev. T. O'Callaghan, D.D. Church of England

No	16
Date of Notice	2 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Vowles	Violet Mary Elizabeth Sarah Newland
	💍 1897/4126
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	None
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Kiri Kiri, Thames	Kiri Kiri, Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	St. George's Church, Mackay St, Thames
Folio	97/185
Consent	Henry George Newland, Father
Date of Certificate	6 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. O'Callaghan, D.D. Church of England

3 March 1897

William Charles Kelly
Mary Eileen Louisa Cupit Phelan

William Charles Kelly
Mary Eileen Louisa Cupit-Phelan
💍 1897/4127

Bachelor
Spinster

Mine Manager
None

23
22

Tapu, Thames
Thames

9 years
18 months

St. George's Church, Mackay St, Thames

97/186

3 March 1897

Rev. T. O'Callaghan, D.D. Church of England

No	17
Date of Notice	3 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Charles Kelly	Mary Eileen Louisa Cupit Phelan
BDM Match (98%)	William Charles Kelly	Mary Eileen Louisa Cupit-Phelan
	💍 1897/4127
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mine Manager	None
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Tapu, Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	9 years	18 months
Marriage Place	St. George's Church, Mackay St, Thames
Folio	97/186
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. O'Callaghan, D.D. Church of England

4 March 1897

Thomas Bray
Ann Elizabeth Glover

Thomas Bray
Ann Elizabeth Glover
💍 1897/4277

Widower
Widow

Baptist Minister
None

58
62

Thames
Thames

3 days
20 years

The Dwelling of Ann Elizabeth Glover, Parawai

97/173

4 March 1897

Rev. W. R. Woolley, Baptist

No	18
Date of Notice	4 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Bray	Ann Elizabeth Glover
	💍 1897/4277
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Baptist Minister	None
Age	58	62
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of Ann Elizabeth Glover, Parawai
Folio	97/173
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. R. Woolley, Baptist

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 1908. 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).