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 296

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 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
289	8 July 1897	Thomas James Holmes Clara Clare Spirett		Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	26 23	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days	Holy Trinity Church, Groundside	97/3306		8 July 1897	Rev. W. A. Pascoe, Church of England
290	10 July 1897	John Edward McComiskey Mary Jane Jackson	John Edward Walpole McEnnis Mary Jane Jackson 💍 1897/2007	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	22 24	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 weeks	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	97/3221		10 July 1897	Registrar J. W. Parkerson
291	12 July 1897	Harry Aston Agnes Rose Harvey	Harry Ostler Agnes Rose Harvey 💍 1897/2034	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	27 28	Christchurch Christchurch	25 years 14 years	St. Mary's Church, Addington	97/3249		12 July 1897	Rev. W. S. Beare, Church of England
292	12 July 1897	William Albert Saunders Elizabeth Annie Sanford	William Albert Earnest Hanouer Saunders Elizabeth Louisa Amelia Sanford 💍 1897/2103	Bachelor Spinster	Boatmaker Domestic	25 19	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 19 years	House of W. W. Sanford, 45 St. Asaph St., Linwood	97/3295	W. W. Sanford, Father	12 July 1897	Rev. J. D. Williams, Baptist
293	13 July 1897	Walter Human Annie Ramsey	Walter Mann Amy Annie Ramsay 💍 1897/2008	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	28 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	97/3222		13 July 1897	Registrar J. W. Parkerson
294	13 July 1897	Francis Grofski Mary Pickarski	Francis Grofski Mary Piekarski 💍 1897/2083	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 19	Christchurch Christchurch	14 years 14 years	St. Michael's Church, Christchurch	97/3291	Michael Pickarski, Father	13 July 1897	Rev. J. J. Marnane, Roman Catholic
295	14 July 1897	Dougald Matheson Mary Hyndman	Dougald Matheson May Euphemia Hyndman 💍 1897/2183	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer	45 27	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 6 months	House of Mr. P. Hyndman, Colombo St., Christchurch	97/3402		14 July 1897	Rev. Dr. Henslie, Presbyterian
296	14 July 1897	William Murray Ada Jane Jakins	William Murray Ada Jane Jakins 💍 1897/2089	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	26 20	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 7 years	St. Mary's Church, Merivale	97/3305	George Jakins, Father	14 July 1897	Rev. H. A. Watson, Church of England

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).