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 760

District of Christchurch 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
437	05 November 1897	Robert McAllister Agnes Johnston	Robert McAllister Agnes Johnston 💍 1897/2856	Widower Spinster	Healer Domestic	41 27	Christchurch Christchurch	17 years 2 years	St. Luke's Church, Christchurch	97/4263	05 November 1897	Ven. Archdeacon Lingard, Christchurch
438	05 November 1897	Moore McKay Annie Jane Deacy	Moore McKay Annie Jane De Leacey 💍 1897/2896	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Dressmaker	27 26	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 4 days	Roman Catholic Church, Christchurch	97/4279	05 November 1897	Rev. S. C. Lepin, Roman Catholic
439	06 November 1897	Charles Robert Kirby Emily Bastin Cumming	Charles Robert Kirby Cummings Emily Bastion 💍 1897/3371	Bachelor Spinster	Coachpainter Machinist	28 21	Christchurch Christchurch	18 years 21 years	Wesleyan Church, Christchurch	97/4934	06 November 1897	Rev. J. Orchard, Porter's Church
440	10 November 1897	James Hunter Alice Elizabeth Spanswick	James Dewar Hunter Alice Elizabeth Sparks 💍 1897/3354	Bachelor Spinster	Commercial Traveller	28 26	Christchurch Halswell	4 days 10 years	House of Mr. Spanswick	97/4901	10 November 1897	Rev. J. Pleaslie, Presbyterian
441	10 November 1897	William Lawson Lucy Brown	William Lawson Lucy Brown 💍 1897/2871	Bachelor Spinster	Auctioneer	28 23	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 6 months	House of Mr. J. Pannell, Seaview St.	97/4255	10 November 1897	Rev. R. Scott, Presbyterian
442	10 November 1897	Joseph William Nutt Rosalie Edith Stevens	Joseph William Nutt Rosalie Edith Stevenson 💍 1897/2890	Bachelor Spinster	Law Clerk	28 25	Christchurch Christchurch	28 years 25 years	St. Andrew's Church, Seaview St., Christchurch	97/4273	10 November 1897	Rev. G. Webster, Presbyterian
443	10 November 1897	Major Custrey Florence Edith Graham		Bachelor Spinster	Painter	22 21	Christchurch Christchurch	22 years 21 years	Salvation Army Barracks, Victoria St., Christchurch	97/4310	10 November 1897	Mr. J. Couch, Major Salvation Army

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).