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 469

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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
557	20 October 1897	Henry Bernard Helen Beatrice England Kelsall	Henry Bernard Massey Helen Beatrice England Kelsall 💍 1897/2485	Bachelor Spinster	Master	33 30	Auckland Edinburgh	10 months 3 years	House of Mrs Kelsall, Edinburgh	97/3760	20 October 1897	Rev. R. D. Macnicol, Presbyterian
558	21 October 1897	Robert Henry Keenan Catherine Salvin	Robert Henry Keenan Catherine Galvin 💍 1897/2806	Bachelor Spinster	Cab Proprietor	23 22	Auckland Auckland	10 months 22 months	St. Benedict's Church, Auckland	97/4208	21 October 1897	Rev. M. Brodie, Roman Catholic
559	22 October 1897	William Leslie Baker Sarah Meehan	William Leslie Baker Sarah McGeehan 💍 1897/3581	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	21 23	Auckland Auckland	10 months 23 months	Epsom Church, Newton	97/4927	22 October 1897	Rev. F. Rush, Church of England
560	25 October 1897	Hope Ellis Whitmore Susannah Burrows		Bachelor Spinster	Watchmaker	40 29	Auckland Auckland	7 months 7 months	Church of England, Panmure	97/4710	25 October 1897	Rev. J. Jones, Church of England
561	25 October 1897	Alfred Leonard Henry Sherriff Mary Ann New		Bachelor Widow	Carter	26 36	Auckland Auckland	6 months 26 months	House of Mrs Bride, Ponsonby Road	97/4576	25 October 1897	Rev. R. Sommerville, Presbyterian
562	25 October 1897	George Edmund Barr Eliza Mildred Farmer	George Edmund Barr Eliza Mildred Hayter 💍 1897/2430	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 23	Hura Onehunga	25 months 23 months	Epsom Church of England, Onehunga	97/3728	25 October 1897	Rev. J. Haselden, Church of England
563	26 October 1897	James Loggie Alice Mary Lampra	James Loggie Alice Mary Lampra 💍 1897/3143	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	23 25	Auckland Auckland	23 months 18 months	House of Mother of Bride, Pen Street	97/4640	26 October 1897	Rev. R. Macnicol, Presbyterian
564	26 October 1897	James Murdoch Mary Jane Hutchinson	James Murdoch Mary Jane Hutchinson 💍 1897/3271	Widower Spinster	Watchmaker	37 32	Auckland Auckland	6 months 32 months	House of Father of Bride, Eden Terrace	97/4828	26 October 1897	Rev. R. P. West, Presbyterian
565	26 October 1897	Charles Henry Smith Marie Louise Lewis	Charles Henry Smith Marie Louise Lewis 💍 1897/151	Bachelor Spinster	Landing Waiter, H.M. Customs	30 24	Auckland Auckland	4 months 24 months	Registrar's Office, Auckland	97/3667	26 October 1897	E. H. Lyon, Registrar

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).