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 807

District of Timaru 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
71	4 October 1897	Robert Henry Miller Dark Amelia Ann Barkley	Hubert Henry Miller Darby Amelia Ann Barkley 💍 1897/2932	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Domestic Servant	23 17	Timaru Timaru	23 years 7 years	Dwellinghouse of Mrs Barkley, St. John's Wood, Timaru	97/4352		4 October 1897	Rev. Chas. E. Beecroft, Wesleyan Minister
72	18 October 1897	John Christian Cullmann Eliza Frances Bourke	John Christian Cullman Eliza Frances Bourke 💍 1897/2919	Bachelor Spinster	Salesman	32 26	Timaru Timaru	32 years 2 years	Catholic Priory, Timaru	97/4358		18 October 1897	Rev. John Lubmen, Roman Catholic Priest
73	30 October 1897	Ernest Alfred de Croy Maud Margaret Kerr	Ernest Alfred Le Cren Maud Margaret Kerr 💍 1897/3242	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	29 25	Timaru Timaru	29 years 20 years	English Church, Timaru	97/4774		30 October 1897	Ven. Archdeacon B. W. Harper, Church of England Clergyman
74	2 November 1897	Frederick Davidson Christina Sills	Frederick Davidson Christina Gibbs 💍 1897/2930	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	29 23	Timaru Timaru	5 years 6 months	Registrar's Office, Timaru	97/4350		2 November 1897	Alex. Montgomery, Registrar
75	1 December 1897	John Pearson Margaret Hocking	John Pearson Margaret Hosking 💍 1897/2935	Widower Widow	Contractor Nurse	57 49	Timaru Timaru	20 years 15 years	Dwellinghouse of Rev. W. Sillin, Timaru	97/4355		1 December 1897	Rev. Wm. Sillin, Presbyterian Minister
76	4 December 1897	Archibald Carson Mary Elizabeth Green	Archibald Carson Mary Elizabeth Exell 💍 1897/2931	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 19	Timaru Timaru	3 days 3 days	Registrar's Office, Timaru	97/4357	Elizabeth Green, Mother of Bride	4 December 1897	Alex. Montgomery, Registrar
77	11 December 1897	Edward Thomas Griffith Annie Isabel Griffith	Edward Thomson Mallock Annie Isabel Griffiths 💍 1897/2933	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Dressmaker	22 24	Timaru Timaru	11 months 1 year	Dwellinghouse of Mrs Griffith, Lathe Street, Timaru	97/4353		11 December 1897	Rev. Chas. E. Beecroft, Wesleyan Minister
78	21 December 1897	James Carrington Ann Mary Alexander	James Cunningham Ann Mary Alexander 💍 1897/2936	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Domestic Servant	45 27	Timaru Timaru	18 years 14 days	Dwellinghouse of Rev. W. Sillin, Timaru	97/4356		21 December 1897	Rev. Wm. Sillin, Presbyterian Minister
79	23 December 1897	Frank Hooper Elizabeth Kennedy	Frank Hooper Elizabeth Taylor Kennedy 💍 1897/2918	Bachelor Spinster	Draper Music Teacher	30 28	Timaru Timaru	15 years 28 years	Dwellinghouse of Robert Kennedy, Sophia Street, Timaru	97/4357		23 December 1897	Rev. Wm. Sillin, Presbyterian Minister

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).