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 809

District of Waimate Quarter ending 31 December 1897 Registrar Hugh Gourley

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

24 November 1897

Albert Henry Hutt
Mary Ellen Moore

Albert Henry Hutt
Mary Ellen Moore
💍 1897/2920

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

24
19

Waimate
Waimate

18 years
4 years

In the house of Louisa Moore

97/4354

Louisa Moore, Mother

1 November 1897

Rev H Kelly, Presbyterian

No	24
Date of Notice	24 November 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Henry Hutt	Mary Ellen Moore
	💍 1897/2920
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Waimate
Length of Residence	18 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Louisa Moore
Folio	97/4354
Consent	Louisa Moore, Mother
Date of Certificate	1 November 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev H Kelly, Presbyterian

9 November 1897

Thomas Black
Mary Anne Sinclair Mason

Thomas Black
Mary Annie Sinclair Mason
💍 1897/3117

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

32
30

Waimate
Waimate

14 years
2 years

In the Church of England, Waimate

97/4612

9 November 1897

Rev McKenzie Gibson, Church of England

No	25
Date of Notice	9 November 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Black	Mary Anne Sinclair Mason
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Black	Mary Annie Sinclair Mason
	💍 1897/3117
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	32	30
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Waimate
Length of Residence	14 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the Church of England, Waimate
Folio	97/4612
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 November 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev McKenzie Gibson, Church of England

16 November 1897

Frank Herbert Dodd
Charlotte Elizabeth Fuller

Frank Henry Dodd
Charlotte Elizabeth Fuller
💍 1897/3118

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

21
20

Waimate
Waimate

3 days
19 months

In the house of Joseph Fuller, Matakihi

97/4613

Joseph Fuller, Father

16 November 1897

Rev McKenzie Gibson, Church of England

No	26
Date of Notice	16 November 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Herbert Dodd	Charlotte Elizabeth Fuller
BDM Match (89%)	Frank Henry Dodd	Charlotte Elizabeth Fuller
	💍 1897/3118
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Waimate
Length of Residence	3 days	19 months
Marriage Place	In the house of Joseph Fuller, Matakihi
Folio	97/4613
Consent	Joseph Fuller, Father
Date of Certificate	16 November 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev McKenzie Gibson, Church of England

20 December 1897

William Hardwick
Maud Wood

William Hardwick
Maude Doel
💍 1897/3243

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill-owner

38
21

Waimate
Waimate

4 years
3 years

In the house of W Hawkins

97/4775

20 December 1897

Rev R Raine, Primitive Methodist

No	27
Date of Notice	20 December 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hardwick	Maud Wood
BDM Match (80%)	William Hardwick	Maude Doel
	💍 1897/3243
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill-owner
Age	38	21
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Waimate
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the house of W Hawkins
Folio	97/4775
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 December 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev R Raine, Primitive Methodist

20 December 1897

John Werges
Emily Batchelor

John Werges
Emily Batchelor
💍 1897/3245

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

29
23

Waimate
Waimate

29 years
23 years

In the house of John Werges

97/4777

20 December 1897

Rev R Raine, Primitive Methodist

No	28
Date of Notice	20 December 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Werges	Emily Batchelor
	💍 1897/3245
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Waimate
Length of Residence	29 years	23 years
Marriage Place	In the house of John Werges
Folio	97/4777
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 December 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev R Raine, Primitive Methodist

24 December 1897

Alexander Cordner
Ada Rodd

Alexander Cordner
Ada Dodd
💍 1897/2921

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier

24
25

Waimate
Waimate

20 years
11 years

In the house of James Dodd

97/4360

24 December 1897

Rev H Kelly, Presbyterian

No	29
Date of Notice	24 December 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Cordner	Ada Rodd
BDM Match (94%)	Alexander Cordner	Ada Dodd
	💍 1897/2921
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Waimate
Length of Residence	20 years	11 years
Marriage Place	In the house of James Dodd
Folio	97/4360
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev H Kelly, Presbyterian

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 1903. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).