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 682

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
350	11 October 1897	James Francis McDonald Agnes Nicol	James Frances McDonald Agnes Nicol 💍 1897/2651	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	23 25	Hokitika Hokitika	23 years 23 years	House of Mr. Stephen Harris Harper Street Wellington	97/3967		11 October 1897	Rev William Thirer
351	12 October 1897	Frank Herbert Clayton Barley Emma Amelia Jackson	Frank Herbert Clayton Barley Emma Amelia Jackson 💍 1897/2631	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	27 28	Wellington Wellington	3 years 3 years	Wesleyan Parsonage Taranaki Street Wellington	97/3946		12 October 1897	Rev William Baumber
352	14 October 1897	Francesco Aigre Ellen Haywood	Francesco Nigro Ellen Haywood 💍 1897/202	Bachelor Spinster	Musician	21 18	Wellington Wellington	3 months 12 months	Registrar's Office Wellington	97/3901	Maryann Haywood	14 October 1897	F. W. Mansfield Registrar
353	14 October 1897	William Muir Neilson Elizabeth May Christie	William Muir Wilson Elizabeth May Christie 💍 1897/2605	Bachelor Spinster	Coachbuilder Schoolteacher	29 25	Eketahuna Wellington	3 1/2 years 25 years	St. Marks Church Wellington	97/3939		14 October 1897	Rev Richard Coffey
354	19 October 1897	Sampson Williams Eliza Webster	Sampson Williams Eliza Webster 💍 1897/2611	Widower Widow	Builder	44 39	Wellington Wellington	12 years 1 year	House of Mr. Finn Near No 43 Ghuznee Street Wellington	97/3923		19 October 1897	Rev John Reed Glasson
355	19 October 1897	Arthur Garnet Quartermain Alice Mary Tasker	Arthur Garnet Quartermain Alice Mary Tasker 💍 1897/307	Bachelor Spinster	Warder	23 21	New Plymouth Wellington	5 months 20 years	House of Mr. John Tasker No 28 Wallace Street Wellington	97/4747		19 October 1897	Rev James Paterson
356	19 October 1897	William Arnold Leah Cecil Wilton	Eli William Arnold Leah Cecill Wilton 💍 1897/2632	Bachelor Spinster	Basketmaker	18 17	Wellington Wellington	14 years 17 years	House of Mr. George Wilton Adelaide Road Wellington	97/3948	Edwin Arnold, George Wilton	19 October 1897	Rev William Baumber
357	21 October 1897	Thomas George Taylor Elizabeth Davidson	Thomas George Owen Elizabeth Vaile 💍 1897/2081 Thomas Roberts Elizabeth Watson 💍 1897/3111	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	39 27	Hunterville Scotland	9 months 27 years	St Andrews Church Wellington	not solemnized		22 October 1897	Rev Charles Simmonds Egg
358	25 October 1897	William Adolph Jäger Mary Dunstan	William Adolph Jeger Mary Dunstan 💍 1897/2656	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	24 24	Wellington Wellington	3 years 1 year	House of Mr. A. T. Turner Adeline Street Wellington	97/3972		25 October 1897	Mr. A. T. Turner
359	26 October 1897	Niels Nielsen Henrietta Emelia Theodora Hougaard	Niels Nielsen Henriette Emilie Hoffgaard Haugaard 💍 1897/2606	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	24 25	Wellington Wellington	14 days 14 days	St Marks Church Wellington	97/3940		26 October 1897	Rev Richard Coffey

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).