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 685

District of Wellington 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
410	5 November 1897	Thomas Lloyd Perlotte Peterden	Thomas Lloyd Perlotte Pedersen 💍 1897/2640	Bachelor Spinster	Drainpipemaker	25 18	Wellington Wellington	3 years 18 years	House of W. H. Petersero No. 30 Frederick Street Wellington	97/3976	Hans Petersen	8 November 1897	Rev Charles Dallastoro
411	5 November 1897	David Oliver Martha Donaldson	David Oliver Martha Donaldson 💍 1897/2644	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	24 18	Wellington Wellington	3 years 2 months	Wesley Church Molesworth Street Wellington	97/3982	James Donaldson	8 November 1897	Rev Thomas Francis Jones
412	5 November 1897	Albert Landstrom Mary Minola	Albert Sandstrom Mary Minola 💍 1897/185	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	25 37	Wellington Wellington	6 months 14 years	Registrar's Office Wellington	97/3907	F. W. Mansfield, Registrar	8 November 1897	F. W. Mansfield, Registrar
413	10 November 1897	William Gregbell Boddington Annie Louise Stavely	William Grey Hall Baillie Annie Louise Staveley 💍 1897/3317	Bachelor Spinster	Solicitor	30 20	Palmerston North Wellington	6 weeks 6 years	St. Paul's Pro Cathedral Wellington	97/4856	William Stavely	10 November 1897	Thomas Henry Sprott
414	11 November 1897	Alfred Edward Scott Jessie Harris	Alfred Edward Carter Jessie Harris 💍 1897/309	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 26	Pahautanui Pahautanui	30 years 26 years	St. John's Manse Wellington	97/4719		12 November 1897	Rev James Paterson
415	11 November 1897	Alfred Percy Westbury Frances Lee	Alfred Percy Westbuy Frances Lee 💍 1897/2626	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	30 23	Wellington Wellington	6 years 22 years	St. Mark's Church Wellington	97/3943		11 November 1897	Rev Richard Coffey
416	15 November 1897	Francis William Methven Mary Louisa Messanger	Francis William Atkinson Mary Louisa Messenger 💍 1897/3072	Bachelor Spinster	Miller	28 21	Sentry Hill Taranaki Karori Wellington	12 years 12 years	St. Mary's Church Karori	97/4567		16 November 1897	Rev Peter Lochiel Mitchell Cameron
417	15 November 1897	George Mercer Martha Kent	George Mercer Martha Kent 💍 1897/2663	Widower Spinster	Cordial Manufacturer	61 51	Wellington Wellington	14 years 20 years	Congregational Courtenay Place Wellington	97/4002		15 November 1897	Rev William Simpson Fernie
418	15 November 1897	George Cook Agnes Anderson Christie	George Cook Agnes Anderson Christie 💍 1897/3603	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	23 23	Inglewood Taranaki Wellington	5 months 10 years	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church Wellington	97/3965		16 November 1897	Rev James Kennedy Elliott
419	15 November 1897	Caroline Frederick Scott Amy Louisa Noble Campbell	Caroline Frederick Scott Maundrell Amy Louisa Noble Campbell 💍 1897/3545	Bachelor Spinster	Master Mariner	42 33	Wellington Wellington	6 weeks 1 year	St. Thomas Church Wellington	97/3987		15 November 1897	Rev William Campbell Waters

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).