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 073

District of Ohinemuri 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
69	5 July 1897	John Clare Latimer Leama Mary Robson	John Clare Latimer Leanna Mary Robson 💍 1897/1585	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	31 24	Waihi Paeroa	2 years 20 years	Catholic Church, Paeroa	97/2719		7 July 1897	W. Wilson, Paeroa
70	12 July 1897	Anthony Abdallah Anna Jane Vedder	Anthony Abdallah Anna Jane Vedder 💍 1897/2392	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	23 19	Paeroa Paeroa	2 years 6 months	Mr. Killips, Paeroa	97/3638	J. G. Vedder, father	18 September 1897	Father Hackett, Paeroa
71	31 July 1897	David Pressly Matthews Sarah Janet Hemingway	David Pressley Matthews Sarah Janet Hemingway 💍 1897/1586	Bachelor Spinster	Fruiterer	40 28	Paeroa Paeroa	18 months 6 months	Wesleyan Parsonage, Paeroa	97/3920		31 July 1897	Samuel Griffiths, Wesleyan, Paeroa
72	31 July 1897	Daniel Swarm Emma Jane Speed	Daniel Swann Emma Jael Speck 💍 1897/1587	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	28 21	Karangahake Karangahake	11 months 9 months	Registrar's Office, Paeroa	97/2721		31 July 1897	J. A. Norrie, Registrar, Paeroa
73	6 August 1897	John Rummer Frederick Sarah Maraia Bright	John Plummer Ella Fredericks Sarah Maria Bright 💍 1897/1588	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	26 27	Waikino Wellington	9 months 8 years	Boarding House, Paeroa	97/2722		6 August 1897	W. W. Wilson, Paeroa
74	9 August 1897	Louis Francis Ott Eleanor McMechan	Louis Francis Ott Eleanor McMechan 💍 1897/2391	Bachelor Spinster	Builder	22 23	Paeroa Paeroa	18 months 18 months	Presbyterian Church, Paeroa	97/3637		9 August 1897	J. A. Norrie, Paeroa
75	31 August 1897	Edward Patton Annie McNeal	Edward Patton Annie McNeil 💍 1897/1589	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	26 20	Karangahake Karangahake	3 years 5 years	Mr. McNeal's dwelling, Karangahake	97/2723	Sarah J. McNeal, mother	31 August 1897	E. O. Perry, Paeroa
76	1 September 1897	John Dewhold Heape Elizabeth Matilda Lowe	John Newbold Heape Elizabeth Matilda Sorensen 💍 1897/1590	Bachelor Spinster	Shop Hand	26 24	Paeroa Paeroa	2 years 20 years	Catholic Church, Paeroa	97/2724		1 September 1897	W. W. Wilson, Paeroa
77	14 September 1897	Daniel Harrison Annie Smith	Daniel Harrison Annie Smith 💍 1897/2393	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	27 24	Karangahake Karangahake	2 years 2 months	Catholic Church, Paeroa	97/3639		14 September 1897	Father Hackett, Paeroa
78	22 September 1897	Thomas Percival Tugley Lucy Jane Robson	Thomas Percival Vuglar Emily Jane Robson 💍 1897/354	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	26 27	Waihi Paeroa	12 years 15 years	Mr. J. Tugley's dwelling, Paeroa	97/2725		25 September 1897	John W. Buston, Paeroa

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).