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 768

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	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
497	17 December 1897	Jacob Schmack Eliza Ann Steven	Jacob Schmack Eliza Ann Stevens 💍 1897/3090	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 19	Christchurch Paparua	26 years 4 months	Presbyterian Church, Christchurch	97/4585	Frederick Steven, father	17 December 1897	Rev. J. M. Simpson, Presbyterian
498	17 December 1897	John Baxter Emma Jane Savag	John Baxter Ada Swain 💍 1898/922	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Dressmaker	30 21	Christchurch Christchurch	1 week 2 years	Anne St. Wesleyan Church, Linwood	97/4307		17 December 1897	Rev. A. R. Steven, Wesleyan
499	17 December 1897	Ernest James Ritchie Elizabeth Ellen Webley	Ernest James Ritchie Elizabeth Ellen Webley 💍 1897/222	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer Dressmaker	22 21	Christchurch Christchurch	22 years 14 years	J. Webley's, Richmond	97/4299	J. J. Hope, father	17 December 1897	Rev. J. J. Hope, Baptist
500	18 December 1897	Henry William Ballantyne Eva May		Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Clerk	34 25	Christchurch Christchurch	34 years 25 years	St. Michael's Church, Oxford Terrace, Christchurch	98/1771		18 December 1897	Rev. A. H. Averill, Church of England
501	18 December 1897	James Hunter Sophia Smitheram	James Hunter Sophia Smitheram 💍 1897/3306	Bachelor Spinster	Master Tailor	29 19	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	St. John's Church, Latimer Square, Christchurch	97/4869	James Smitheram, father	18 December 1897	Rev. H. C. M. Watson, Church of England
502	18 December 1897	Ernest Reginald Kingsbury Eliza Ann Davis	Ernest Reginald Kingsbury Eliza Ann Davis 💍 1897/2869	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 25	Christchurch Courtenay	6 years 25 years	St. Matthew's Church, Christchurch	97/4253		18 December 1897	Rev. H. G. Hawkins, Church of England
503	18 December 1897	John Julius Parker Mary Mc. Caldon	John Julius Parker Mary McCaldon 💍 1897/3240	Widower Spinster	Estate Agent	49 42	Christchurch Christchurch	39 years 25 years	House of Mr. Jas. Wright, Oxford Terrace, Christchurch	97/4771		18 December 1897	Rev. J. Orchard, Wesleyan
504	20 December 1897	Frank Hart Clara Dudley Pratt	Frank Herbert Hart Clara Evelyn Pratt 💍 1897/251	Bachelor Spinster	Editor	26 30	Gore Christchurch	3 years 13 months		97/4470		20 December 1897	Rev. J. T. Hanley, Church of England

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).