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 343

District of Timaru 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
53	5 July 1897	James Burns Maggie Wrighton	James Burns Maggie Wrightson 💍 1897/2148	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Domestic Servant	22 years 23 years	Timaru Timaru	20 years 3 days	Registrar's Office, Timaru	97/3343		5 July 1897	Alexander Montgomery, Registrar
54	7 July 1897	Harold Rawborn Vera Kenneth Packman	Harold Raustorn Dora Kenneth Packman 💍 1897/2121	Bachelor Spinster	Coachsmith Dressmaker	28 years 26 years	Timaru Timaru	28 years 20 years	Dwelling house of Rev. P. H. Jones, Timaru	97/3334		7 July 1897	Rev. P. H. Jones, Primitive Methodist Minister
55	14 July 1897	Nathaniel Parker Martha Matilda Halford	Nathaniel Parker Martha Matilda Halford 💍 1897/2150	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	21 years 22 years	Timaru Timaru	9 years 4 years	Dwelling house of the Bridegroom, Bank St. Timaru	97/3344		14 July 1897	Rev. Chas. E. Beecroft, Wesleyan Minister
56	14 July 1897	James Crosbie Lily Jane Tomlinson	James Crosbie Lily Jane Tomlinson 💍 1897/2120	Bachelor Spinster	Wool Finisher	18 years 22 years	Timaru Timaru	4 1/2 years 22 years	Dwelling house of Mrs. Tomlinson, Rose St. Timaru	97/3338	James Crosbie, Father	14 July 1897	Rev. P. H. Jones, Primitive Methodist Minister
57	15 July 1897	Thomas Cox Catherine Fitzroy	Thomas Cox Catharine McCoy 💍 1897/2381	Widower Spinster	Sewing Machine Agent Domestic Servant	41 years 36 years	Timaru Timaru	4 years 4 years	Catholic Priory, Timaru	97/3339		15 July 1897	Rev. F. J. Lewis, Roman Catholic Priest
58	17 July 1897	James Pehine Bessie Condone Wall	James Petrie Elizabeth Constance Wall 💍 1897/2123	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Tailoress	37 years 23 years	Timaru Timaru	4 years 22 years	Dwelling house of Rev. P. H. Jones, Timaru	97/3339		17 July 1897	Rev. P. H. Jones, Primitive Methodist Minister
59	22 July 1897	David Laird Hunt Agnes Jane Fitzsimmons	David Caird Agnes Jane Fitzsimmons 💍 1897/2117	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	25 years 20 years	Pareora Timaru	25 years 20 years	Dwelling house of Rev. Wm. Selbie, Timaru	97/3335	Jarrett Fitzsimons, Father	22 July 1897	Rev. Wm. Selbie, Presbyterian Minister
60	27 July 1897	Adam Sibson Lucy Jane Rose Hocking	Adam Gibson Lucy Jane Rowe Hosking 💍 1897/2131	Bachelor Spinster	Engine Driver	27 years 19 years	Lynch Plains Timaru	27 years 18 years	Dwelling house of Rev. P. H. Jones, Timaru	97/3340	William Hocking, Father	27 July 1897	Rev. P. H. Jones, Primitive Methodist Minister
61	2 August 1897	Arthur Edward Taylor Charlotte Jane Daws	Arthur Edward Taylor Charlotte Jane Dawe 💍 1897/2114	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	24 years 24 years	Washdyke Washdyke	3 days 24 years	Residence of P. Daws, Washdyke	97/3332		2 August 1897	Rev. Thomas Farley, Church of England Clergyman
62	3 August 1897	George Robbins Smith Ellen Ward	George Robbins Ellen Ward 💍 1897/2151	Widower Widow	Farmer Milkwoman	60 years 38 years	Timaru Timaru	3 days 5 years	Dwelling house of Bride, Russell St., Timaru	97/3345		3 August 1897	Rev. Chas. E. Beecroft, Wesleyan Minister

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).