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 763

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
459	November 1897	Archibald Davies Jessie Foster	Archibald Davies Jessie Foster 💍 1897/212	Widower Spinster	Foreman	40 22	Christchurch Fosters Road, Riccarton	17 years 1 year 6 months	House of Archibald Davies, Fosters Road, Riccarton	97/4282	Ruth Foster, Mother	18 November 1897	Rev. G. Webster, Presbyterian
460	November 1897	Edward Joseph Rights Hilda Maud Martin	Edward Joseph Righton Hilda Mabel Martin 💍 1897/2874	Bachelor Spinster	Agent	25 22	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 10 years	St. Michael's Church, Christchurch	97/4281		18 November 1897	Rev. W. J. Steward, Church of England
461	November 1897	George Herbert Peach Amy Sabrina Young	George Herbert Corser Amy Surbinar Dench 💍 1897/2887	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	30 30	Christchurch Christchurch	30 years 30 years	All Saints Church, Burwood	97/4293		22 November 1897	Rev. T. R. Inwood, Church of England
462	November 1897	John Falloon Alexandra Lund	John Falloon Alexandra Lund 💍 1897/2861	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 25	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	House of Mr. A. Cockburn, Selwyn St., Addington	97/4267		23 November 1897	Rev. S. Mc. Nicoll, Wesleyan
463	November 1897	James Joseph O'Neill Harriet Maud Ilott	James Joseph O'Neill Harriet Maude Ely 💍 1897/3331	Bachelor Spinster	Railway Clerk	24 24	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 4 years	Roman Catholic Church, Barbados St.	97/4898		23 November 1897	Rev. J. Cummings, Roman Catholic
464	November 1897	Leonard de Carteret Malet Eleanor Anna Stafford	Leonard De Carterel Malet Eleana Anna Stefford 💍 1897/3587	Bachelor Spinster	Sheepfarmer	27 16	Christchurch Christchurch	35 days 3 days	Riccarton	97/4770	J. P. Writer, Father	26 November 1897	Rev. H. J. P. Writer, Church of England
465	November 1897	John Gresham Hay Ada Louisa White	John Needham Drapper Ada Louisa White 💍 1897/2829	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	22 22	Christchurch Christchurch	14 years 22 years	Registrar Office, Christchurch	97/4232		27 November 1897	Registrar, J. W. Parkerson
466	November 1897	Thomas Henry Rowe Lydia Quartermain	Thomas Henry Rowe Linda Quarterman 💍 1897/3241	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	26 25	Christchurch Christchurch	26 years 21 years	St. Michael's Church, Litchfield St., Christchurch	97/4773	Annie Mc. Quartermain, Mother	29 November 1897	Rev. W. G. Parsons, Wesleyan, Ross Orchard

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).