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 478

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 December 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
639	23 November 1897	James Henry Mayall Anne Bateman	James Henry Mayall Annie Bateman 💍 1897/2417	Bachelor Divorcee	Hand	34 35	Auckland Auckland	30 years 4 years	Registrar's Office, Auckland	97/3688		23 November 1897	E. H. Lyons, Registrar
640	24 November 1897	James Mc. Than Jesse Taylor	James McShane Jessie Taylor 💍 1897/2438 James Lewis Parrant Jessie Taylor 💍 1897/914	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	21 20	Auckland Dannevirke	21 years 20 years	Roman Catholic Church, Dannevirke	97/3714	Speakman, Mother of Bride	24 November 1897	Very Rev. W. McDonald, Roman Catholic
641	26 November 1897	Frank Edward Allen Marion Frances Gosswill	Frank Edward Allen Marion Frances Tosswill 💍 1897/78 Frank Edward Allen Marion Frances Tosswill 💍 1897/2418	Bachelor Divorcee	Fitter	32 29	Auckland Auckland	1 year 1 year	Registrar's Office, Auckland	97/3689		26 November 1897	E. H. Lyons, Registrar
642	26 November 1897	Sydney Cuthbert Rathbone Margaret Eidonia Weber	Sydney Cuthbert Rathbone Margaret Sidonia Weber 💍 1897/2478	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	37 18	Kaipara Kaipara	2 years 2 years	Bishop's Court, Parnell, St. Sepulchre's	97/3758	J. Weber, Father of Bride	26 November 1897	Rev. E. W. Cowrie, Church of England
643	26 November 1897	Franz Oscar Richard Jafusch Sarah Jane Tate	Franz Oscar Richard Jagusch Sarah Jane Yate 💍 1897/2466	Bachelor Widow	Furniture Manufacturer	34 41	Auckland Auckland	40 years 20 years	Church, Auckland	97/3740		26 November 1897	Ven. Arch. B. T. Dudley, Church of England
644	26 November 1897	Richard Goons Kate Elizabeth Grace Dowd	Richard Coom Kate Elizabeth Grace O'Dowd 💍 1897/2439	Bachelor Spinster	Medical Practitioner	42 26	Auckland Dannevirke	14 years 15 years	Roman Catholic Church, Dannevirke	97/3715		26 November 1897	Very Rev. W. McDonald, Roman Catholic
645	26 November 1897	William Melville Below Sarah Elizabeth Wilson	William Melville Beynon Sarah Elizabeth Wilson 💍 1897/3189	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	25 27	Auckland Auckland	15 months 12 years	Primitive Methodist Church, Alexander Street	97/4713		26 November 1897	Rev. C. E. Ward, Primitive Methodist
646	27 November 1897	Henry Richard Wood Florence Charlotte Dunn	Henry Richard Moor Florence Charlotte Dunn 💍 1897/2486	Bachelor Spinster	Bricklayer	23 21	Auckland Auckland	11 years 12 years	Primitive Methodist Church, Franklin Road	97/3761		27 November 1897	Rev. J. Ramp, Primitive Methodist
647	27 November 1897	Charles Widdington Dalton Thomas Rosetta Griffiths	Charles Widdington Dalton Thomas Rosetta Griffiths 💍 1897/2443	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	22 24	Auckland Auckland	5 years 9 years	St. Sepulchre's Church, Auckland	97/3741		27 November 1897	Ven. Arch. B. T. Dudley, Church of England

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).