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 730

District of Reefton 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
21	27 November 1897	Charles Mereweither Mary Williams	Charles Mereweither Mary Williams 💍 1897/3696 Thomas Lamberton Mary Williams 💍 1897/4614 Francis Eugene McParland Mary Williams 💍 1897/3068 Charles Henry Hooper Thealia Williams 💍 1898/779	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Domestic Servant	25 21	Progress Junction Reefton	8 months 6 days	At the Office of the Registrar of Marriages Reefton	97/4181		27 November 1897	Henry Lucas, Registrar
22	29 November 1897	Robert Lionel Kearns Rosalie Annie Leigh Lochore	Robert Lionel Kearns Rosalie Annie Reigh Lochore 💍 1897/3698	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Compositor	27 21	Merrijigs Reefton	2 years 5 years	At the residence of Mr Lochore, Mace Street Reefton	97/4183		29 November 1897	Rev. David A. Anderson
23	2 December 1897	George Burdett Wilby Sylvia Jane Long	George Burdett Wilby Sylvia Jane Long 💍 1897/3697	Bachelor Spinster	Battery hand	24 22	Reefton Reefton	3 months 13 days	At the Office of the Registrar of Marriages Reefton	97/4182		2 December 1897	Henry Lucas, Registrar
24	11 December 1897	Bernard Francis Peter Coleman Grace Howell	Bernard Francis Peter Coleman Grace Howell 💍 1897/3700	Bachelor Spinster	Teacher	22 24	Capleston Capleston	20 months 13 years	St Duke's Church	97/4185		11 December 1897	Rev. John R. Dart
25	13 December 1897	Robert Graham Morrison Alice Sparkes Bryan	Robert Graham Morrison Alice Sparkes Bryan 💍 1897/3701	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	35 26	Reefton Reefton	11 years 7 years	At the residence of George P. Bryan, Buller Road Reefton	97/4186		13 December 1897	Rev. John R. Dart
26	20 December 1897	Charles Edmund Fabian Mary Moore	Charles Edmund Fabian Mary Moore 💍 1897/3702	Bachelor Spinster	Grain Merchant	42 22	Reefton Crushington	6 days 12 months	At the residence of James Moore, Contractor, Crushington	97/4187		20 December 1897	Rev. John R. Dart
27	20 December 1897	Henry Warner Amelia McLean	Henry Warner Amelia McLean 💍 1897/3703	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer School Teacher	24 28	Reefton Reefton	5 years 6 days	At the residence of the bridegroom, Lower Broadway Reefton	97/4188		20 December 1897	Rev. John R. Dart
28	20 December 1897	William Penrose Elizabeth Ann Trevorrow	William Penrose Elizabeth Ann Frevorrow 💍 1897/3699	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	32 26	Blacks Point Blacks Point	3 days 7 years	At the residence of the bride's mother, Mary Ann Trevorrow, Blacks Point	97/4184		20 December 1897	Rev. James Iniford
29	29 December 1897	Alfred Hudson Mabel Hopwood	Alfred Hudson Mabel Hopwood 💍 1897/379	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	23 20	Inangahua Junction Inangahua Junction	2 years 3 months	At the residence of Mary Jane Anncy, Inangahua Junction	97/4189	Mary Jane Anncy, Mother	29 December 1897	Rev. John R. Dart

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).