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 024

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1897 Registrar E. 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

119

9 March 1897

John Douglas Herr
Emily Janson

John Douglas Kerr
Emily Janson
💍 1897/4024

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

34
21

Auckland
Auckland

5 months
5 years

Registrar's Office

97/26

9 March 1897

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	119
Date of Notice	9 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Douglas Herr	Emily Janson
BDM Match (97%)	John Douglas Kerr	Emily Janson
	💍 1897/4024
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	34	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 months	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	97/26
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1897
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

120

9 March 1897

Edward Boyle
Mary Elizabeth Ponting

Edward Boyle
Mary Elizabeth Ponting
💍 1897/3768

Widower
Spinster

Settler

52
50

Auckland
Auckland

40 years
10 years

Registrar's Office

97/27

9 March 1897

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	120
Date of Notice	9 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Boyle	Mary Elizabeth Ponting
	💍 1897/3768
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	52	50
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	40 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	97/27
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1897
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

121

9 March 1897

James Cox
Jane Augusta Hill

James Cox
Jane Augusta Hill
💍 1897/953

Widower
Spinster

Messenger

71
67

Auckland
Auckland

46 years
25 years Ponsonby Road

House of the Bride

97/1264

9 March 1897

Revd W. Calder, Church of England

No	121
Date of Notice	9 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Cox	Jane Augusta Hill
	💍 1897/953
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Messenger
Age	71	67
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	46 years	25 years Ponsonby Road
Marriage Place	House of the Bride
Folio	97/1264
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Revd W. Calder, Church of England

122

9 March 1897

William Gibbons
Rebecca Lowe

William Gibbons Harp
Rebecca Lowe
💍 1897/3766

Widower
Widow

Wheelwright

45
47

Devonport
Devonport

5 years
5 weeks Alexandra Street

Methodist Church

97/110

9 March 1897

Revd C. E. Ward, Methodist

No	122
Date of Notice	9 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Gibbons	Rebecca Lowe
BDM Match (88%)	William Gibbons Harp	Rebecca Lowe
	💍 1897/3766
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Wheelwright
Age	45	47
Dwelling Place	Devonport	Devonport
Length of Residence	5 years	5 weeks Alexandra Street
Marriage Place	Methodist Church
Folio	97/110
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Revd C. E. Ward, Methodist

123

10 March 1897

Arthur Edward Rowden
Mary Jane Mitchell

Arthur Edward Rowden
Mary Jane Mitchell
💍 1897/1474

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

26
24

Auckland
Auckland

3 months
4 months

St. Matthew's Church, Auckland

97/2521

10 March 1897

Revd L. Fitzgerald, Church of England

No	123
Date of Notice	10 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Edward Rowden	Mary Jane Mitchell
	💍 1897/1474
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 months	4 months
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Auckland
Folio	97/2521
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Revd L. Fitzgerald, Church of England

124

10 March 1897

Henry Lawrence Hazleman
Florence Ann Hazleman

Henry Lawrence
Florence Annie Hazleman
💍 1897/3761

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

25
17

Auckland
Parnell

24 years
17 years

House of Revd A. Mitchell

97/105

10 March 1897

Revd A. Mitchell, Wesleyan

No	124
Date of Notice	10 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Lawrence Hazleman	Florence Ann Hazleman
BDM Match (76%)	Henry Lawrence	Florence Annie Hazleman
	💍 1897/3761
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	25	17
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Parnell
Length of Residence	24 years	17 years
Marriage Place	House of Revd A. Mitchell
Folio	97/105
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Revd A. Mitchell, Wesleyan

125

10 March 1897

Alfred Corbett
Amalie Bock

Alfred Corbett
Amalie Bock
💍 1897/4042

Widower
Spinster

Grocer

34
24

Devonport
Auckland

4 months
6 years

St. Sepulchre's Church, Auckland

97/70

10 March 1897

Revd B. J. Dudley, Church of England

No	125
Date of Notice	10 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Corbett	Amalie Bock
	💍 1897/4042
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Devonport	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 months	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Sepulchre's Church, Auckland
Folio	97/70
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Revd B. J. Dudley, Church of England

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).