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 482

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
676	10 December 1897	George Nicholson Eliza Ann Wareham	George Nicholson Wareham Eliza Ann Ryan 💍 1897/2403	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 22	Auckland Auckland	6 months 7 years	Registrar's Office Auckland	97/3698		10 December 1897	E. H. Lyons, Registrar
677	10 December 1897	Emmanuel Hensley Ruth Scholey	Emmanuel Hensley Ruth Scholey 💍 1897/3081	Widower Widow	Cutter	55 57	Auckland Hobson Street, Auckland	9 months 4 years	Church	97/4552		10 December 1897	Rev. R. Hall, Primitive Methodist
678	11 December 1897	William Mwaites Catherine Murphy	William Thwaites Catherine Murphy 💍 1897/2810	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	24 20	Auckland Devonport, Auckland	24 years 20 years	Home of Mr. Murphy	97/4713	Delise Murphy, father	11 December 1897	Rev. R. Hall, Primitive Methodist
679	11 December 1897	David Taylor Anne Pant	David Ferguson Taylor Annie Grant 💍 1897/3529	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	31 27	Auckland Newton, Auckland	31 years 27 years	Luther of Price, Surrec Street	97/3712		11 December 1897	F. Aldredge, Church of Christ
680	13 December 1897	Frank Mason Ada Flora Hill	George Henry Mason Ada Flora Hill 💍 1897/2426	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	23 28	Auckland Auckland	14 years 20 years	Wesleyan Church	97/3723		13 December 1897	Rev. A. Peters, Wesleyan
681	13 December 1897	Henry John Hadham Edith Elizabeth Aulsebrook	Henry John Wadham Edith Elizabeth Aulsebrook 💍 1897/3277	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	42 35	Auckland Northcote, Auckland	42 years 3 years	Church of England	97/4825		13 December 1897	Rev. H. P. Davies, Church of England
682	14 December 1897	John Joseph Shafe Exeline Ward		Bachelor Spinster	Trammer	21 18	Auckland Auckland	18 years 10 years	Roman Catholic Church	97/3716		14 December 1897	Very Rev. K. McDonald, Roman Catholic
683	15 December 1897	Howard John Philpot Angeline Theresa Armstrong	Howard John Philpot Angelina Theresa Armstrong 💍 1897/2427	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	42 35	Auckland Arch Hill, Auckland	18 years 20 years	Home of Mother of Bride	97/3724		15 December 1897	Rev. H. Bull, Wesleyan
684	15 December 1897	George Henry Taylor Agnes Margaret Donald	George Henry Taylor Agnes Margaret Donald 💍 1897/2404	Bachelor Spinster	Checker	20 18	Auckland Auckland	20 years 18 years	Registrar's Office	97/3699	George Taylor, father; Alexander Donald, father	15 December 1897	E. H. Lyons, Registrar
685	16 December 1897	George Castleton Howe Mary Hutcheson Smith	George Castleton Lowe Mary Hutchison Smith 💍 1898/2823	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	29 28	Auckland Whangarei	14 years 20 years	Registrar's Office Whangarei	98/141		16 December 1897	Registrar of Marriages, Whangarei

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).