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 473

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
594	8 November 1897	Arthur Langford Josephine Desprez	Arthur Langford Souter Josephine Des Peez Giffney 💍 1897/3101	Bachelor Spinster	Dairyman	30 25	Cambridge, Waikato Auckland	15 years 1 month	All Saints Church	97/4595		8 November 1897	Rev. B. Calder, Church of England
595	8 November 1897	Rofe Harr Jane Connolly	George Starr Jane Connolly 💍 1897/163	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	32 26	Ngaruawahia Auckland	20 years 20 years	Registrar's Office, Auckland	97/3678		8 November 1897	E. G. H. Lyons, Registrar
596	8 November 1897	Robert Frances Catherine Ann Combes	Robert Francis Croker Catherine Ann Combes 💍 1897/3589	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	26 28	Auckland Auckland	15 years 10 years	House of Father of Bride, Parnell	97/4831		8 November 1897	Rev. R. P. West, Presbyterian
597	8 November 1897	William Fargher Elizabeth Ann Ludge	William Fargher Elizabeth Ann Judge 💍 1897/3084	Bachelor Spinster	Lumber	33 30	Auckland Victoria	10 years 30 years	St. Paul's Church	97/4555		8 November 1897	Rev. G. E. Nelson, Church of England
598	8 November 1897	Dennis Duffan Emma Maude Scoringe	Dennis Henry Duggan Emma Maud Scoringi 💍 1897/164	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	32 21	Paeroa Paeroa	1 year 5 months 15 months	Registrar's Office, Auckland	97/3679		8 November 1897	E. G. H. Lyons, Registrar
599	8 November 1897	William Henry Windsor Marion Adelaide Mason	William Henry Windsor Marion Adelaide Mason 💍 1897/2447	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	31 19	Auckland Auckland	5 days 6 years	St. John's Chapel, Otahuhu	97/4545	Father of Bride	8 November 1897	Rev. P. S. Smallfield, Church of England
600	10 November 1897	Thomas Medland Shepherd Eleanor Hadfield	Thomas Medland Shepherd Eleanor Hadfield 💍 1897/2458	Bachelor Spinster	Lumber	25 26	Coromandel Birkenhead	8 years 13 years	House of Father of Bride, Birkenhead	97/3755		10 November 1897	Rev. J. Crump, Wesleyan
601	11 November 1897	William Lester Smith Annie Ailon	William Lester Smith Jeannie Aiton 💍 1897/3150	Bachelor Spinster	Upholsterer	22 21	Auckland Auckland	22 years 19 years	St. James Church	97/4646		11 November 1897	Rev. R. F. Macnicol, Presbyterian
602	11 November 1897	Thomas Robert Blame Ursula Marion Dix	Thomas Robert Blame Ursula Marion Dix 💍 1897/165	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	37 28	Auckland Auckland	37 years 23 years	Registrar's Office, Auckland	97/3680		11 November 1897	E. G. H. Lyons, Registrar

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).