Intentions to Marry, 1897 July-December

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840412, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, June 25 2025

1897 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 023

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 September 1897

No	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
507	18 September 1897	John Williams Clare Alice May Clare	John Williams Alice May Clare 💍 1897/88	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	25 19	Auckland Auckland	25 years 19 years	Registrars Office Auckland	97/2591	Father of Bride	18 September 1897	E. H. Lyons, Registrar
508	20 September 1897	Thomas McAneaney Mary Kelly	Thomas McAneaney Mary Kelly 💍 1897/1545	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	37 32	Auckland Auckland	22 years 32 years	Church of Sacred Heart, Ponsonby	97/2635		20 September 1897	Rev. G. H. Gillan, Roman Catholic
509	20 September 1897	James Clare Martha Jane Tye	James Clare Martha Jane Tye 💍 1897/89	Bachelor Spinster	Mill Hand	27 16	Auckland Auckland	27 years 16 years	Registrars Office	97/2592	J. Tye, Father of Bride	20 September 1897	E. H. Lyons, Registrar
510	22 September 1897	Frederick Vivian Bunnold Elizabeth Potter	Frederick Vivian Cunnold Elizabeth Potter 💍 1897/3725	Bachelor Spinster	Milk Vender	29 30	Auckland Hawkes Bay	10 years 2 years	All Saints Church, Ponsonby	97/2637		22 September 1897	Rev. W. Balder, Church of England
511	23 September 1897	Richard Keyte Victoria Caroline Austin	Richard Keyte Victoria Caroline Austin 💍 1897/90	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	27 25	Whangarei Whangarei	27 years 4 years	Registrars Office	97/2593		23 September 1897	E. H. Lyons, Registrar
512	23 September 1897	Robert Samuel Smyth Emma Molesworth Bensely Farrant	Robert Samuel Smyth Emma Molesworth Benselry Farrant 💍 1897/3726	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	27 24	Auckland Auckland	27 years 18 years	All Saints Church, Ponsonby	97/2638		23 September 1897	Rev. W. Balder, Church of England
513	24 September 1897	Walter Guise Mary Christina Bishop	Walter Guise Mary Christina Bishop 💍 1897/3737	Bachelor Spinster	Commercial Traveller	31 21	Auckland Auckland	18 months 2 years	St James Church, Auckland	97/2607		24 September 1897	Rev. R. F. Macnicol, Presbyterian
514	24 September 1897	Robert Montgomery Passmore Ida Mary Radford	Robert Montgomery Passmore Ida Mary Radford 💍 1897/3082	Bachelor Spinster	Rope Manufacturer	29 21	Auckland Auckland	14 months 12 years	St Pauls Church, Auckland	97/4553		24 September 1897	Rev. G. M. Nelson, Church of England
515	24 September 1897	Edwin William Evans Jane George	Edwin William Evans Jane George 💍 1897/3355	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	29 24	Auckland Parnell	5 years 24 years	House of Mother of Bride	97/4492		24 September 1897	T. Kehoe, Roman Catholic

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 1894. More registers will be added as the project continues.

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).