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 643

District of Feilding 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
518	4 October 1897	Olion George Northcott Selea Elizabeth Watkin	Oliver George Northcott Ellen Elizabeth Watkins 💍 1897/2664	Bachelor Spinster	Bushfaller	23 22	Cheltenham Feilding	3 years 2 years	Public Hall, Cheltenham	97/4003		4 October 1897	C. C. Harrison
519	2 November 1897	Arthur George Carty Mary Elizabeth Thompson	Arthur George Carty Mary Elizabeth Thompson 💍 1897/3546	Bachelor Spinster	Solicitor Clerk	22 23	Feilding Feilding	4 years 4 years	Presbyterian Church, Feilding	97/4004		2 November 1897	Charles Murray
520	3 November 1897	William McKee Caroline Aldine Vernie Cantell	William McKee Caroline Uldine Vernie Cantelin 💍 1897/3134	Bachelor Spinster	Telegraphist	25 25	Feilding Feilding	4 years 4 years	St Johns Church, Feilding	97/4606		3 November 1897	S. P. Davy
521	20 November 1897	Edward Martin Alice Laura Browne	Edward Martin Alice Laura Browne 💍 1897/2665	Widower Spinster	Tailor	34 22	Feilding Feilding	6 years 3 years	Registrars Office, Feilding	97/4005		20 November 1897	J. F. Martin
522	24 November 1897	Jonathan Edward Pearson Mary Ellen Ashworth	Jonathan Edward Pearson Mary Helen Ashworth 💍 1897/2661	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 23	Makino Makino	18 years 11 years	At the residence of the Groom's Mother, Susannah Pearson, Makino	97/4000		24 November 1897	Frederick Stubbs
523	26 November 1897	Charles James Henry Harris Ellen Johnson	Charles James Henry Harris Helen Johnson 💍 1897/2660 Charles James Tully Kate Johnson 💍 1897/3928	Bachelor Spinster	Baker Dressmaker	23 22	Feilding Feilding	4 days 2 weeks	At the residence of Mr J. Howes, Feilding	97/3999		26 November 1897	James Cocker
524	15 December 1897	George Cornfoot Margaret Elizabeth Bell	George Cornfoot Margaret Elizabeth Bell 💍 1897/2669	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 28	Rutherglen Makino	3 years 3 years	At the residence of the Bride's father, Alexander Bell, Halcombe	97/4008		13 December 1897	Hugh M. H. Murray
525	18 December 1897	James Bruce Hollier Catherine Wilkinson	James Bruce Hollier Catherine Wilkinson 💍 1897/2666	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Domestic	22 24	Feilding Feilding	4 years 4 years	Primitive Methodist Church, Feilding	97/4006		18 December 1897	James Cocker
526	21 December 1897	Herbert Hinde Mary Josephine Cadigan	"Hinde-Cadigan No such marriage Solemnized by me Alan S. Innes Jones 14/3/98" [attached memo]	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Help Maid	32 28	Feilding Feilding	3 weeks 2 years	Church of England, Feilding	[illegible]		21 December 1897	A. S. Jones Jones
527	24 December 1897	James Bambery Rhoda Jane Fidler	James Bambery Rhoda Jane Fidler 💍 1898/2605	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	31 19	Feilding Feilding	4 days 7 years	Primitive Methodist Chapel, Feilding	98/98	George Fidler, Father	24 December 1897	James Cocker

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).