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 231

District of Wellington 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
349	9 September 1897	Percy Sawtell Hardie Bessie Tindale	Percy Sawtell Waldie Bessie Tindale 💍 1897/334	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	25 19	Wellington Palmerston North	14 days 6 months	St Thomas Wellington	97/3110	John Tindale, Father	17 September 1897	Rev. John deB Galwey
350	11 September 1897	Charles Edwin Crozier Mary Ann Waters	Charles Edwin Crozier Mary Ann Waters 💍 1897/327	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 26	Apiti Fielding Johnsonville	3 years 2 years	St Mark Wellington	97/3054		14 September 1897	Rev. Rich. Coffey
351	13 September 1897	Benedict Stephen Haring Mary Ellen Rayner	Benedict Stephen Waring Mary Ellen Rayner 💍 1897/1854	Bachelor Spinster	Hairdresser	34 24	Wellington Wellington	3 years 5 years	Registrar's Office Wellington	97/3043		13 September 1897	F. W. Mansfield, Registrar
352	13 September 1897	Thomas Tripney Miller Eliza Jane Duthie	Thomas Tripeney Miller Eliza Jane Duthie 💍 1897/1934	Widower Spinster	Banker	39 31	Hawera Wellington	2 years 10 years	Private Residence of John Duthie, Wellington	97/3114		14 September 1897	Rev. James Patersons
353	13 September 1897	John Robert Iglow Agnes Pringle	Arthur Robert Uglow Agnes Pringle 💍 1897/1935	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	37 26	London Melrose Scotland	2 1/2 years 2 years	St Johns Manse Wellington	97/3115		14 September 1897	Rev. James Patersons
354	13 September 1897	George Hart Emily Clara Gillman	George Hart Emily Clara Billman 💍 1897/1908	Widower Spinster	Clerk	28 22	Wellington Wellington	16 years 22 years	Private Residence of G. Gillman, Wellington	97/3085		14 September 1897	Rev. Wm. Baumber
355	16 September 1897	Walter Martin Minnie Martin	Walter Martin Minnie Martin 💍 1897/1855	Widower Spinster	Farmer	27 21	Porirua Porirua	5 months 21 years	Registrar's Office Wellington	97/3044		16 September 1897	F. W. Mansfield, Registrar
356	16 September 1897	William McAdie Annie Stuart	William McCaeadie Annie Stuart 💍 1897/333 William Malcolmson Alicia Stuart 💍 1897/1691	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	31 27	Pahiatua Pahiatua	3 years 27 years	Brooks R.C. Church Pahiatua	97/3075		16 September 1897	Rev. John T. Lane
357	16 September 1897	Thomas Dalton Florence Cochrane	Thomas Dalton Florence Cochrane 💍 1897/1856	Bachelor Spinster	Plasterer	22 21	Wellington Wellington	4 years 19 years	Registrar's Office Wellington	97/3045		16 September 1897	F. W. Mansfield, Registrar
358	21 September 1897	James Brown Martha Hunter	James Brown Martha Hunter 💍 1897/2614 James Nelson Bettria Hunter 💍 1898/2695 James Walker Martha Jane Hunter 💍 1897/2216	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	33 23	Wellington Wellington	10 months 5 years	Private Residence of W. Evans, Wellington	97/3926		21 September 1897	Rev. W. A. Evans

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).