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 686

District of Wellington 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
420	16 November 1897	Arthur Seldon Pike Isabella Finch	Arthur Seldon Pike Isabella Finch 💍 1897/3318	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	28 24	Wellington Petone	3 years 9 years	St Paul's pro Cathedral Wellington	97/4857		16 November 1897	Rev Thomas Henry Sprott
421	17 November 1897	Oliver Edward Lloyd Loft Ada Martha Loft	Oliver Edward Cyril Paget Ada Martha Loft 💍 1897/3067	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	23 21	Wellington Wellington	4 years 21 years	St Mary's of the Angels Wellington	97/4562		17 November 1897	Rev John T. Ainsworth
422	19 November 1897	Michael Farrelly Mary Butter	Michael Farrelly Mary Butter 💍 1897/2645	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 26	Lower Hutt Lower Hutt	28 years 6 years	Catholic Church Johnsonville	97/3983		19 November 1897	Rev John J. Lane
423	19 November 1897	Edmund Albert Aplin Alice Alethea Adams	Edmond Albert Aplin Alice Althea Adams 💍 1897/22	Bachelor Spinster	Dairy Farmer	34 24	Crofton Onslow Wellington	32 years 20 years	House of Mr. Cecil Adams, Donald Street, Wellington	97/4742		19 November 1897	Rev Andrew Gray
424	20 November 1897	Charles Benjamin Gaby Mary Fanny Hewett	Charles Benjamin Gaby Mary Fanny Hewitt 💍 1897/2629	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	28 23	Wellington Wellington	24 years 23 years	St Marks Church Wellington	97/3944		20 November 1897	Rev Richard Hoffey
425	20 November 1897	John Albert Alexander Minnie Rowley	John Albert Nikander Minnie Rowley 💍 1897/186	Bachelor Spinster	Ship Carpenter	35 25	Wellington Wellington	3 months 3 weeks	Registrar's Office Wellington	97/3908		20 November 1897	F.W. Mansfield, Registrar
426	22 November 1897	Silas John Pugsley Sarah Aldridge	Silas John Pugsley Mary Adams 💍 1898/513	Widower Widow	Porter	56 40	Wellington Wellington	34 years 25 years	House of Mr. Cautton, 65 Pirie Street, Wellington	97/4956		22 November 1897	Rev Thomas O'Shea
427	24 November 1897	William Leer Annie Charlotte Fryer	William Leer Annie Charlotte Fryer 💍 1897/2641	Bachelor Spinster	Brickmaker	21 20	Wellington Wellington	6 years 20 years	House of Mr. Fryer, Vogeltown	97/3979	John Fryer	24 November 1897	Rev Charles Dallaston
428	24 November 1897	Frank Martin Kenny Eleanor Julia Craig	Frank Martin Kenney Eleanor Julia Craig 💍 1897/2622	Bachelor Spinster	Watchmaker	27 30	Woodville Wellington	2 years 2 years	House of Mrs. W.J. Craig, Aro Street, Wellington	97/3957		24 November 1897	Rev James Kennedy Elliots
429	25 November 1897	Frederick William France Martha Ann Holt	Frederick William France Martha Ann Holt 💍 1897/2604	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	26 27	Wellington Wellington	20 years 14 years	St Peters Church Wellington	97/3958		25 November 1897	Rev William Campbell Waters

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).