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 344

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 September 1897 Registrar Allan Maclean

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

15 August 1897

John Fitzsimmons
Ellen Doyle

John Fitzsimmons
Ellen Doyle
💍 1897/2383

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

36
24

Seadown
Adair

6 years
12 years

Roman Catholic Church, Timaru

97/3341

19 August 1897

Rev. .............[?], Roman Catholic Priest

No	63
Date of Notice	15 August 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Fitzsimmons	Ellen Doyle
	💍 1897/2383
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	36	24
Dwelling Place	Seadown	Adair
Length of Residence	6 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	97/3341
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 August 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. .............[?], Roman Catholic Priest

20 August 1897

John Stewart ??
Agnes ?? Shearer

John Stewart Ferguson
Agnes Rowet Shearer
💍 1897/2142

Bachelor
Spinster

Piecer

21
18

Timaru
Timaru

7 years
10 years

Dwelling of W. Shearer, Gray Road, Timaru

97/3341

Wm Shearer, father

20 August 1897

Rev. A. S. Jones, Primitive Methodist Minister

No	64
Date of Notice	20 August 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Stewart ??	Agnes ?? Shearer
BDM Match (64%)	John Stewart Ferguson	Agnes Rowet Shearer
	💍 1897/2142
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Piecer
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	7 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of W. Shearer, Gray Road, Timaru
Folio	97/3341
Consent	Wm Shearer, father
Date of Certificate	20 August 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. S. Jones, Primitive Methodist Minister

20 August 1897

Andrew ??
Sarah Storm

Andrew Stuart
Sarah Brown
💍 1897/2149

Bachelor
Spinster

Spinner

23
21

Timaru
Timaru

8 years
9 years

Mr ..........'s dwellinghouse, Stafford St, Timaru

97/3342

20 August 1897

Rev. A. S. Jones, Primitive Methodist Minister

No	65
Date of Notice	20 August 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew ??	Sarah Storm
BDM Match (59%)	Andrew Stuart	Sarah Brown
	💍 1897/2149
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Spinner
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	8 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Mr ..........'s dwellinghouse, Stafford St, Timaru
Folio	97/3342
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 August 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. S. Jones, Primitive Methodist Minister

20 August 1897

William James Tonkin
?? Ann ?? Macdonald

William James Tonkin
Joan Ann Lilly MacDonald
💍 1897/2118

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant

40
27

Timaru
Timaru

6 years
15 years

Dwelling of Mrs Macdonald, Theodosia Street, Timaru

97/3336

20 August 1897

Rev. Wm. Gillies, Presbyterian Minister

No	66
Date of Notice	20 August 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Tonkin	?? Ann ?? Macdonald
BDM Match (79%)	William James Tonkin	Joan Ann Lilly MacDonald
	💍 1897/2118
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant
Age	40	27
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	6 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mrs Macdonald, Theodosia Street, Timaru
Folio	97/3336
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 August 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Gillies, Presbyterian Minister

20 August 1897

Michael Gerity
Sarah Augusta ??

Michael Gerity
Sarah Augusta Greene
💍 1897/2384

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

32
22

Timaru
Timaru

32 years
2 years

Catholic Church, Timaru

97/3653

20 August 1897

Rev. F. Le Menant, Catholic Clergyman

No	67
Date of Notice	20 August 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Gerity	Sarah Augusta ??
BDM Match (79%)	Michael Gerity	Sarah Augusta Greene
	💍 1897/2384
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	32	22
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	32 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	97/3653
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 August 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Le Menant, Catholic Clergyman

10 September 1897

Henry Martin ??
Susanna Hunt

Henry Martin Hollow
Susanna Hunt
💍 1897/2153

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Dressmaker

22
20

Timaru
Timaru

21 years
20 years

Dwelling of W H Hunt

97/3347

William Henry Hunt, father

10 September 1897

Rev. Edmund Charles Lease, Congregational Minister

No	68
Date of Notice	10 September 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Martin ??	Susanna Hunt
BDM Match (84%)	Henry Martin Hollow	Susanna Hunt
	💍 1897/2153
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Dressmaker
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	21 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of W H Hunt
Folio	97/3347
Consent	William Henry Hunt, father
Date of Certificate	10 September 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. Edmund Charles Lease, Congregational Minister

10 September 1897

George King
Fanny Maud Dawe

George King
Fanny Maude Dawe
💍 1897/2116

Bachelor
Spinster

Chaff Cutter

28
20

Highfield
Highfield

12 years
20 years

Dwelling of Robert Dawe, Highfield

97/3344

Robert Dawe, father

10 September 1897

Rev. Thos. Barclay, Church of England Clergyman

No	69
Date of Notice	10 September 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George King	Fanny Maud Dawe
BDM Match (97%)	George King	Fanny Maude Dawe
	💍 1897/2116
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chaff Cutter
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Highfield	Highfield
Length of Residence	12 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Robert Dawe, Highfield
Folio	97/3344
Consent	Robert Dawe, father
Date of Certificate	10 September 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. Barclay, Church of England Clergyman

27 September 1897

Charles Sidney Waters
Ellen Mawhinney

Charles Sidney Waters
Ellen Mawhinney
💍 1897/2152

Widower
Widow

Storeman

45
34

Timaru
Timaru

21 years
30 years

Dwelling of Mr. Ogden, Church St., Timaru

97/3346

27 September 1897

Rev. Charles T. Penney, Wesleyan Minister

No	70
Date of Notice	27 September 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Sidney Waters	Ellen Mawhinney
	💍 1897/2152
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Storeman
Age	45	34
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	21 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr. Ogden, Church St., Timaru
Folio	97/3346
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 September 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. Charles T. Penney, Wesleyan Minister

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 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).