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 014

District of Quarter ending

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

2 February 1897

Arthur Withy
Kate Challis Hould

Arthur Wethy
Kate Challis Hould
💍 1897/4054

Bachelor
Spinster

Journalist

26
25

Auckland
Auckland

12 years
15 years

House of M. Withy

97/59

2 February 1897

Rev. A. Peters, Wesleyan Methodist

No	55
Date of Notice	2 February 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Withy	Kate Challis Hould
BDM Match (96%)	Arthur Wethy	Kate Challis Hould
	💍 1897/4054
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Journalist
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	12 years	15 years
Marriage Place	House of M. Withy
Folio	97/59
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Peters, Wesleyan Methodist

2 February 1897

Frederick Maskell King
Bertha Withy

Frederick Maskiel King
Bertha Wethy
💍 1897/4055

Bachelor
Spinster

Manager

37
24

Auckland
Auckland

2.5 years
12 years

House of M. Withy

97/60

2 February 1897

Rev. A. Peters, Wesleyan Methodist

No	56
Date of Notice	2 February 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Maskell King	Bertha Withy
BDM Match (91%)	Frederick Maskiel King	Bertha Wethy
	💍 1897/4055
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Manager
Age	37	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2.5 years	12 years
Marriage Place	House of M. Withy
Folio	97/60
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Peters, Wesleyan Methodist

2 February 1897

Donald Munro Wilson
Ethel Maude Wilson
formerly Ford

Donald Munro Wilson
Ethel Maude Wilson
💍 1897/4037

Married
Married

Surveyor

25
21

Thames
Auckland

12 months
4 years

Church of England

97/65

R.G. Wilson, Father

2 February 1897

Rev. J. Bates, Church of England

No	57
Date of Notice	2 February 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Munro Wilson	Ethel Maude Wilson formerly Ford
	💍 1897/4037
Condition	Married	Married
Profession	Surveyor
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Auckland
Length of Residence	12 months	4 years
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	97/65
Consent	R.G. Wilson, Father
Date of Certificate	2 February 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Bates, Church of England

3 February 1897

Edward Alfred Stenbeck
Margaret Hannah Vazey

Edward Alfred Stenbeck
Margaret Hannah Vazey
💍 1897/4014

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

30
19

Auckland
Auckland

3 years
3 years

Registrar's Office

97/16

George Frederick Vazey, Father

3 February 1897

J. Thompson, Deputy Registrar

No	58
Date of Notice	3 February 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Alfred Stenbeck	Margaret Hannah Vazey
	💍 1897/4014
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	30	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	97/16
Consent	George Frederick Vazey, Father
Date of Certificate	3 February 1897
Officiating Minister	J. Thompson, Deputy Registrar

4 February 1897

Alfred Jennith
Mary Ann Cossey

Alfred Trewith
Mary Ann Cossey
💍 1897/3764

Bachelor
Spinster

Book Keeper

24
32

Auckland
Auckland

2.5 years
6 years

House of M. Jennith

97/108

4 February 1897

Rev. E. Ward, Primitive Methodist

No	59
Date of Notice	4 February 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Jennith	Mary Ann Cossey
BDM Match (86%)	Alfred Trewith	Mary Ann Cossey
	💍 1897/3764
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Book Keeper
Age	24	32
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2.5 years	6 years
Marriage Place	House of M. Jennith
Folio	97/108
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Ward, Primitive Methodist

4 February 1897

William Walter Stanton
Elizabeth Jane McCulloch

William Walter Stanton
Elizabeth Jane McIntosh
💍 1897/4102

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

24
23

Auckland
Auckland

2.5 years
2.5 years

Methodist Church

97/136

4 February 1897

Rev. E. Stann, Primitive Methodist

No	60
Date of Notice	4 February 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Walter Stanton	Elizabeth Jane McCulloch
BDM Match (90%)	William Walter Stanton	Elizabeth Jane McIntosh
	💍 1897/4102
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2.5 years	2.5 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church
Folio	97/136
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Stann, Primitive Methodist

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).