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 466

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
538	7 October 1897	Charles Herbert Jenkins Mary Isabel Bower	Charles Herbert Jenkins Mary Isabel Bower 💍 1897/2460	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk School Teacher	25 21	Auckland Ouchunga	6 days 5 years	House of father of bride, Ouchunga	97/3734		7 October 1897	Rev. B. Rhodes, Congregational
539	8 October 1897	Alexander Nick Jesse King	Alexander Dick Jessie King 💍 1897/3139	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	36 30	Waihi Oamaru	2 years 30 months	House of Mr. D. Scott, Beresford Street	97/4636		8 October 1897	Rev. R. D. Macnicol, Presbyterian
540	8 October 1897	William La Roche Ann Amelia Hume	Willie La Roche Ann Amelia Hume 💍 1897/3194	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	25 25	Opotiki Auckland	18 months 20 years	House of father of Bride, Auburn Street, Opotiki	97/4718		8 October 1897	Rev. H. R. Dewsbury, Wesleyan
541	8 October 1897	George Henry Morrison Catherine Dunn	George Henry Morrison Catherine Dunne 💍 1897/2804	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 19	Auckland Auckland	29 years 19 years	St. Benedict's Church, Auckland	97/4206	Joseph Dunn, father of Bride	8 October 1897	Very Rev. D. O. Egan, Roman Catholic
542	8 October 1897	Alfred Hammond Hyde Ella Goe Williams	Alfred Hamond Hyde Ella Zoe Williams 💍 1897/363	Bachelor Spinster	Police Constable	25 23	Auckland Auckland	18 months 23 years	All Saints Church, Ponsonby	97/4594		8 October 1897	Rev. H. E. Lush, Church of England
543	9 October 1897	Charles Badling Eliza Jane Badling		Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	22 22	Auckland Auckland	20 years 20 years	Registrar's Office, Auckland	97/3665		9 October 1897	E. A. Lyons, Registrar
544	11 October 1897	Thomas James Hamilton Fanny Herbert	Thomas James Hamilton Fanny Herbert 💍 1897/3261	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 23	Weicuru Bay Auckland	24 years 23 years	Church of England, Mount Roskill	97/4819		11 October 1897	Rev. A. English, Church of England
545	11 October 1897	James Henry Foalley Charlotte Emily Hammond	James Henry Goatley Charlotte Emily Hammond 💍 1897/3140	Widower Spinster	Orchardist	56 34	Harkworth Auckland	12 months 23 months	House of Mr. T. Bell, Picton Road	97/4637		11 October 1897	Rev. R. D. Macnicol, Presbyterian
546	11 October 1897	Clement Jotman Rebecca Lawsey	Clement Totman Rebecca Saussey 💍 1897/3141	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	23 20	Auckland Auckland	13 months 4 months	House of Mother of Bride, Beresford Street	97/4638	Susan Stoke, Mother	11 October 1897	Rev. R. D. Macnicol, 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).