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 752

District of Ashburton 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
1027	12 October 1897	Arthur John Knight Louisa Maltion	Arthur John Knight Louisa Jane Walker 💍 1897/2839	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Domestic Servant	21 22	Ashburton Ashburton	8 years 2 years	Registrar's Office Ashburton	97/4243		12 October 1897	J. Ward, Registrar
1028	15 October 1897	James Holland Elizabeth Saunyson	James Holland Elizabeth Fanny Timms 💍 1897/2840	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 19	Flemington Flemington	20 years 4 years	Registrar's Office Ashburton	97/4244	Walter J. Saunyson, Father	15 October 1897	J. Ward, Registrar
1029	1 November 1897	George Jerson Lilea Ellen Mann		Bachelor Spinster	Watchmaker	29 28	Ashburton Ashburton	6½ years 20 years	St. Stephen's Church Ashburton	97/4247		1 November 1897	Revd. Thos. A. Hamilton
1030	5 November 1897	Christopher Atkinson Isabella Williamson	Christopher Atkinson Isabella Williamson 💍 1897/2867	Bachelor Spinster	Commercial Traveller School Teacher	39 29	Christchurch Ashburton	8 years 5 years	Private Dwelling of Donald Williamson, Ashburton	97/4257		5 November 1897	Revd. Geo. B. Inglis
1031	6 November 1897	Herbert Parker Steel Williamina Lockett Perm	Herbert Reader Steel Williamina Halls Sears 💍 1897/3249	Bachelor Spinster	Coachbuilder	33 33	Ashburton Dunedin	22 years 8 years	Primitive Methodist Church at Dunedin	97/4804		6 November 1897	Revd. William Layorete
1032	15 November 1897	Moses Hawkins Margaret Mary Lowe	Moses Hawkins Margaret Mary Lowe 💍 1897/2865	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 23	Winslow Ashburton	1½ years 1 year	St. Stephen's Church Ashburton	97/4248		15 November 1897	Revd. Thos. A. Hamilton
1033	11 December 1897	Charles Oha Adaline Empson	Richard Thomas Alexander Cochrane Adaline Empson 💍 1897/2868	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Tailoress	29 27	Makanie Makanie	22 years 4 days	Presbyterian Church Ashburton	97/4252		11 December 1897	Revd. Geo. B. Inglis
1034	14 December 1897	Richard Baker Grace Maria Daly	Richard Baker Grace Maria Dally 💍 1897/2841	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Labourer Domestic Servant	22 22	Longbeach Longbeach	6 years 4 years	Registrar's Office Ashburton	97/4245		14 December 1897	J. Ward, Registrar
1035	18 December 1897	Matthew James Mear Catherine Stewart	Matthew James Kerr Catherine Strath Stewart 💍 1898/645	Bachelor Spinster	Schoolmaster Home duties	24 24	Ashburton Beaconsfield, Makarewa	3 days 24 years	Presbyterian Church Makarewa	98/5118		18 December 1897	Revd. Geo. B. Inglis
1036	21 December 1897	Isaac Store Emma Wrythe	Isaac Hoare Emma Hyde 💍 1897/2849	Widower Widow	Contractor	54 53	Hampstead Drevorton	15 years 5 years	Private dwelling of Mrs. Wrythe at Ashburton	97/4246		21 December 1897	Revd. R. Taylor

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).