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 576

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 31 December 1897 Registrar Charles Edmund Nicholas

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
25	4 October 1897	Ebenezer Giles Pinker Elizabeth Martin	Ebenezer Giles Pinker Elizabeth Martin 💍 1897/2726	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	24 21	Whangarei Whangarei	8 months 7 months	At the office of the Registrar, Whangarei	97/4095		4 October 1897	The Registrar
26	6 October 1897	Henry Edward Sands Sarah Theresa Dwyer	Henry Edward Sands Sarah Theresa Dwyer 💍 1897/3538	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 19	Maungakaramea Otaika	20 years 19 years	At the residence of the bride's parents Otaika	97/4096	John Dwyer, Father	6 October 1897	Rev. J. W. Smiers
27	15 October 1897	Matthew Dickson Mary Jane Moreland	Matthew Dickson Mary Jane Moreland 💍 1897/3574	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	23 21	Kiripaka Kiripaka	2 years 2 years	At Christ Church, Whangarei	97/4623		15 October 1897	Rev. L. L. Cubitt
28	24 November 1897	Frederick George Cooper Catherine McLennan	Frederick George Cooper Catherine McLennan 💍 1897/2727	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier	25 30	Whangarei Kaurihohore	12 months 12 years	Presbyterian Church, Kaurihohore	97/4097		24 November 1897	Rev. G. Y. Roby
29	6 December 1897	James Irwin Wilson Jr Louisa Alberta Armstrong	James Irwin Wilson Louisa Alberta Armstrong 💍 1897/2728	Bachelor Spinster	Solicitor	31 24	Maunu Maunu	4 years 12 years	At the residence of the bride's parents, Maunu	97/4098		6 December 1897	Rev. G. Y. Roby
30	16 December 1897	John Archibald Neale Mary Jane Collinson	John Archibald Neale Mary Jane Collinson 💍 1897/3127	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	17 14	Otonga East Otonga East	10 years 14 years	At the residence of the bridegroom's parents, Otonga East	97/4622	John Neale, Father; Geo Collinson, Father	16 December 1897	Rev. J. H. Hawkes M.A.
31	18 December 1897	Henry Albert Goodhue Ida Emms	Henry Albert Goodhue Ida Imms 💍 1897/3135	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	23 22	Ruatangata East Ruatangata East	6 months 6 months	Christ Church, Whangarei	97/4624		18 December 1897	Rev. L. L. Cubitt
32	18 December 1897	Henry Marshall Muir Emily Edminstone	Harry Marshall Muir Emily Edwinstone 💍 1897/2730	Bachelor Spinster	Bushman	23 21	Kaitara Kaitara	7 months 8 months	At the residence of the Rev. B. F. Rothwell	97/4100		18 December 1897	Rev. B. F. Rothwell
33	22 December 1897	Walter Smith Alice Mary North	Walter Smith Alice Mary North 💍 1897/2729	Bachelor Spinster	Mill Hand	25 24	Whakapara Whangarei	5 years 24 years	At the residence of the bride's parents, Whangarei	97/4099		22 December 1897	Rev. G. Y. Roby

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 1899. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).