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 580

District of Hawera 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
267	10 October 1897	Thomas Cooper Harriet Isabel Loft	Thomas Cooper Harriet isabella Loft 💍 1897/2563	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 20	Hawera Hawera	1 year 20 years	Church of England, Hawera	97/3847	Frank Hedley Loft, Father	10 October 1897	Rev. H. Anson, Hawera
268	4 October 1897	Donald Thomas Henry Sutherland Margaret Bingham	Donald Thomas Henry Sutherland Margaret Bingham 💍 1897/2542	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 25	Awatuna Alton	3 days 3 days	Residence of Rev. J. McDonald, Hawera	97/3842		4 October 1897	Rev. J. McDonald, Hawera
269	15 October 1897	Albert George Nash Ada Christina Worker	Albert George Nash Ada Christina Wortley 💍 1897/2564	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 25	Wanganui Hawera	3 days 7 days	Church of England, Hawera	97/3848		15 October 1897	Rev. H. Anson, Hawera
270	19 October 1897	John Andrew Cockerton Norah Nettleton Batter	John Andrew Cockerton Norah Nettleton Batten 💍 1897/2565	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	32 23	Ngaere Normanby	3 days 6 years	Church of England, Normanby	97/3849		19 October 1897	Rev. H. Anson, Hawera
271	20 October 1897	Frederick William Riddle Elizabeth Lorimer	Frederick William Riddle Elizabeth Lorimer 💍 1897/2553	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	25 26	Normanby Normanby	25 years 4 years	Residence of W. Bernsey, Normanby	97/3843		20 October 1897	Rev. J. McDonald, Hawera
272	23 October 1897	Charles Kasper Dawrie Carmichael Margaret Jane Carmichael	Charles Kasper Laurie Margaret Jane Carmichael 💍 1897/2560	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 18	Meremere Meremere	5 years 9 years	Residence of David Carmichael, Meremere	97/3844	David Carmichael, Father	23 October 1897	Rev. J. McDonald, Hawera
273	25 October 1897	Frederick Smith Pollock Isabella Ross Gallie	Frederick Smith Pollock Isabella Ross Gallie 💍 1897/2561	Bachelor Spinster	Hotel Manager	27 28	Hawera Hawera	2 years 1.5 years	Presbyterian Manse, Hawera	97/3845		25 October 1897	Rev. J. McDonald, Hawera
274	1 December 1897	Charles William Moore Grace Cauth Phillips	Charles William Moore Grace Edith Phillips 💍 1897/2562	Bachelor Spinster	Setter	24 18	Normanby Normanby	12 years 3 years	Office of Deputy Registrar, Hawera	97/3846	George William Smith Phillips, Father	1 December 1897	F. A. Barnard, Deputy Registrar, Hawera

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).