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 485

District of Auckland 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
705	22 December 1897	Thomas Waller Jessie Ross	Thomas Walker Wilson Jessie Ross 💍 1897/2484	Widower Spinster	School Teacher	62 48	Paparoa Auckland	3 years 1 year	House of William Ross, 1, Princep Street	97/3759		22 December 1897	Rev. A. H. Collins, Baptist
706	22 December 1897	Norman Bodgrave Mary Ellen Hennessy	Norman Cosgrave Mary Ellen Hennessy 💍 1897/2408	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	35 29	Kaukapakapa Kaukapakapa	12 months 12 months	Registrar's office, Auckland	97/3702		22 December 1897	S. H. Ffoulkes, Registrar
707	23 December 1897	Hampton Gilcose Jessie Simpton		Bachelor Spinster	Miner	35 25	Karangahake Karangahake	2 years 20 months	House of Sister of Bride, 20, Lincoln Street	97/4602		23 December 1897	Rev. D. Warner, Congregational
708	23 December 1897	Alfred Arthur Johnbordes Esther Bond	Alfred Arthur John Cordes Esther Bond 💍 1897/2459	Bachelor Spinster	Machinist	23 23	Auckland Auckland	23 months 23 months	House of Mother of Bride, 23, Devonport	97/3756		23 December 1897	Rev. J. Crump, Wesleyan
709	23 December 1897	James Edward Hill Amy Beatrice Humphries	James Edward Hill Amy Beatrice Humphries 💍 1898/50	Bachelor Spinster	Perambulator Maker	23 18	Auckland Auckland	11 months 18 months	Wesleyan Church, Arch Hill	98/51	Elizabeth Humphries, Mother	23 December 1897	Rev. E. Best, Wesleyan
710	23 December 1897	George Edward Hill Edith Barnaby	George Edward Hill Edith Barnaby 💍 1898/73	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 23	Auckland Auckland	1 year 6 months	Wesleyan Church, Kingsland	98/58		23 December 1897	Rev. H. J. Williams, Wesleyan
711	23 December 1897	Alfred Edward Shaw Ethel Blackman	Alfred Edward Shaw Ethel Blackman 💍 1897/3131	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 22	Waikakahi Auckland	20 months 8 months	All Saints Church, Ponsonby	97/4603		23 December 1897	Rev. W. Calder, Church of England
712	23 December 1897	Richard Symmer Lucinda Elizabeth James	Richard Sumner James Lucinda Elizabeth Smyth 💍 1897/285	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	25 27	Auckland Karangahake	25 months 6 months	House of Mr. R. Parsons, Ponsonby	97/4655		23 December 1897	Rev. R. J. Macnicol, Presbyterian
713	24 December 1897	James Mathieson Mary Kendall	James Mathewson Mary Kendall 💍 1897/3291	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	26 29	Coromandel Auckland	20 months 15 months	House of Mother of Bride, 5, Jervois Street	97/4836		24 December 1897	Rev. R. P. West, 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 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).