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 030

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1897 Registrar S. H. Lyons

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

146

22 March 1897

James Norman
Johanna Sinnott

James Homan
Johanna Sinnott
💍 1897/3787

Bachelor
Spinster

Cooper

24
28

Sydney
Auckland

3 years
14 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

97/32

22 March 1897

S. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	146
Date of Notice	22 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Norman	Johanna Sinnott
BDM Match (92%)	James Homan	Johanna Sinnott
	💍 1897/3787
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cooper
Age	24	28
Dwelling Place	Sydney	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	97/32
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1897
Officiating Minister	S. H. Lyons, Registrar

147

23 March 1897

Frederick Ellwood White
Emma Elizabeth Simmons

Frederick Ellwood White
Emma Elizabeth Simmons
💍 1897/4050

Widower
Spinster

Miner

52
36

Waiwera
Suva

7 years
2 years

Wesleyan Church, Pitt Street

97/55

23 March 1897

Rev. A. Peters, Wesleyan

No	147
Date of Notice	23 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Ellwood White	Emma Elizabeth Simmons
	💍 1897/4050
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	52	36
Dwelling Place	Waiwera	Suva
Length of Residence	7 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Pitt Street
Folio	97/55
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Peters, Wesleyan

148

23 March 1897

William Fletcher Coutts
Annie Mary McKenzie

William Fletcher Coutts
Annie Mary McKenzie
💍 1897/4069

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

23
23

Wairoa
Auckland

2 months
23 years

House of Mr. P. Reynolds

97/97

22 March 1897

Rev. B. Munro, Presbyterian

No	148
Date of Notice	23 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Fletcher Coutts	Annie Mary McKenzie
	💍 1897/4069
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Wairoa	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 months	23 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. P. Reynolds
Folio	97/97
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Munro, Presbyterian

149

23 March 1897

James Prentice McPhail
Ethel Josephine Maxwell

James Prentice McPhail
Mary Ann Maxwell
💍 1897/548

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

23
19

Auckland
Auckland

13 years
19 years

Church of England

97/1538

Joseph Maxwell, father

23 March 1897

Rev. H. S. Davies, Church of England

No	149
Date of Notice	23 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Prentice McPhail	Ethel Josephine Maxwell
BDM Match (72%)	James Prentice McPhail	Mary Ann Maxwell
	💍 1897/548
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	13 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	97/1538
Consent	Joseph Maxwell, father
Date of Certificate	23 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. S. Davies, Church of England

150

24 March 1897

Walter Augustus Brook
Beatrice Lucy Levett

Walter Augustus Brook
Lucy Beatrice Levett
💍 1897/3419

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

26
15

Auckland
Auckland

26 years
18 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

97/1115

6 April 1897

S. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	150
Date of Notice	24 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Augustus Brook	Beatrice Lucy Levett
BDM Match (75%)	Walter Augustus Brook	Lucy Beatrice Levett
	💍 1897/3419
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	26	15
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	26 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	97/1115
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1897
Officiating Minister	S. H. Lyons, Registrar

151

24 March 1897

Thomas Donald McNab
Catherine Bruce McGill

Thomas Donald McNab
Catherine Bruce McGill
💍 1897/4091

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

27
30

House of Mr. C. McGill, Surrey
Hills

27 years
30 years

House of Mr. C. McGill, Surrey

97/128

24 March 1897

Rev. R. F. Macnicol, Presbyterian

No	151
Date of Notice	24 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Donald McNab	Catherine Bruce McGill
	💍 1897/4091
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	27	30
Dwelling Place	House of Mr. C. McGill, Surrey	Hills
Length of Residence	27 years	30 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. C. McGill, Surrey
Folio	97/128
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. F. Macnicol, Presbyterian

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).