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 604

District of Napier 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
84	4 October 1897	Charles Cunningham Mary Swanson	Charles Cunningham Mary Stevenson 💍 1897/3206 James Cunningham Mary Dunn 💍 1897/1300 Charles Cunningham Margaret Cecilia O'Connell 💍 1897/2291 James Cunningham Mary Westwood 💍 1897/3231	Widower Spinster	Laborer Domestic	46 24	Whakatu Napier	4 years 3 years	Residence of James Constable, Shakespear Road, Napier	97/4731		4 October 1897	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian
85	13 October 1897	James Marshall Priscilla Bulled	James Marshall Priscilla Bulled 💍 1897/3146	Bachelor Spinster	Station Hand Merciner	32 27	Te Mahanga, Napier Taradale	8 months 20 years	Church of England	97/4625		13 October 1897	Rev. A. P. Clarke, Church of England
86	19 October 1897	Ernest Edward Howard Agnes Florence Waterhouse	Ernest Edward Howard Agnes Florence Waterhouse 💍 1897/3153	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener	21 21	Taradale Taradale	21 years 21 years	Residence of Bridegroom's father	97/4626		19 October 1897	Rev. A. P. Clarke, Church of England
87	25 October 1897	William James White Rebecca Burns	William James White Rebecca Burns 💍 1897/3207	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	31 26	Waimarama, Napier Napier	4 years 3 months 4 months	Residence of Mr. Knesbone, Raffles St., Napier	97/4732		25 October 1897	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian
88	25 October 1897	David O'Keefe Sarah McLuskey	David OKeefe Sarah McCusker 💍 1897/3284	Bachelor Spinster	Coachman	29 22	Napier Napier	2 years 3 years	R.C. Church	97/4846		25 October 1897	Rev. M. Grogan, R.C. Priest
89	1 November 1897	Sydney William Smith Blanche Barnett	Sydney William Smith Blanche Barnett 💍 1897/2572	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	23 23	Palmerston North, Napier Napier	12 years 3 days 4 years	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Napier	97/3880		1 November 1897	G. D. Cameron, Dep. Registrar
90	8 November 1897	Robert Mercer Hughes Mabel Charlotte Hollis	Robert Mercer Hughes Mabel Charlotte Hollis 💍 1897/3154	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	39 19	Puketapu Greenmeadows	30 years 2 years	Residence of Bride's Parents	97/4627	John Bennett Hollis, Father	8 November 1897	Rev. A. P. Clarke, Church of England
91	24 November 1897	James Watson Helena Edith Long	James Waters Helena Edith Long 💍 1897/3208	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	26 25	Napier Napier	4 years 8 years	Residence of Bride's Mother, Bowen St., Napier	97/4783		24 November 1897	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

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).