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 767

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
489	14 December 1897	Albert Ernest Taylor Emily Pepper	Albert Earnest Taylor Emily Pepper 💍 1897/3588	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 20	Christchurch Belfast	23 years 20 years	Methodist Church, Belfast	97/4814	William Pepper, Father	14 December 1897	Rev. W. H. Grigg, Methodist
490	14 December 1897	Harry Hodges Edith Fanny Rose	Harry Hodges Edith Fanny Rowe 💍 1897/221	Bachelor Spinster	Basketmaker	31 23	Christchurch Avonhead	5 years 23 years	Holy Trinity Church, Avonside	97/4298		14 December 1897	Rev. W. A. Pascoe, Church of England
491	14 December 1897	Edwin Hooding Petersen Maud Mary Congreve	Edwin Hovding Petersen Maud Mary Comyns 💍 1897/213	Bachelor Spinster	Sawmiller	25 21	Christchurch Christchurch	6 days 1 year	Primitive Methodist Church, Outram Street, St Albans	97/4313		14 December 1897	Rev. H. Williams, Primitive Methodist
492	15 December 1897	Frederick James Andrew Fanny Pannett	Frederick James Andrew Fanny Pannett 💍 1897/206	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 26	Christchurch Springston	28 years 26 years	House of Mr. J. Pannett, Springston	97/4306		15 December 1897	Rev. J. North, Baptist
493	15 December 1897	William Samuel Hubbard Alice Jackson	William Samuel Hubbard Alice Jackson 💍 1897/304	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	22 22	Christchurch Greenpark	15 years 22 years	Wesleyan Church	97/4767		15 December 1897	Rev. J. Hosking, Wesleyan
494	15 December 1897	William Thomas Househouse Ellen Painton	William Thomas Stonehouse Ellen Painton 💍 1897/2833	Widower Widow	Scullmaker	57 47	Christchurch Christchurch	14 days 5 years	Registrar's Office	97/4237		15 December 1897	J. M. Verrall, Registrar of Marriages
495	17 December 1897	Albert Weaver Grace Tate	Albert Weaver Grace Tate 💍 1897/2834	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier Domestic	21 19	Christchurch Christchurch	21 years 15 years	Registrar's Office	97/4238	Louise Tate, Mother	17 December 1897	J. M. Verrall, Registrar of Marriages
496	17 December 1897	Walter Herbert Alice Jessop	Walter Herbert Hargreaves Alice Jessop 💍 1897/2878	Bachelor Spinster	Medicine & Practitioner	31 31	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 4 years	St. Michael's Church	97/4285		17 December 1897	Rev. W. A. Averies, 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).