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 200

District of Masterton Quarter ending 30 September 1897 Registrar Robert H. Johnston

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

6 July 1897

Alfred Thomas Lawton Dunlop
Gertrude Sablofski

Alfred Thomas Lawlon Dunlop
Gertrude Elizabeth Sablofski
💍 1897/1813

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer
Domestic duties

22
19

Kuripani
Kuripani

7 years
7 years

In the Residence of Wilm Sablofski, Kuripani

97/2950

7 July 1897

Rev. Robert Wood, Presbyterian

No	17
Date of Notice	6 July 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Thomas Lawton Dunlop	Gertrude Sablofski
BDM Match (80%)	Alfred Thomas Lawlon Dunlop	Gertrude Elizabeth Sablofski
	💍 1897/1813
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer	Domestic duties
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Kuripani	Kuripani
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	In the Residence of Wilm Sablofski, Kuripani
Folio	97/2950
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert Wood, Presbyterian

10 July 1897

John Alfred Toogood
Alice Maud Taylor

John Alfred Toogood
Alice Maude Taylor
💍 1897/1814

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic duties

29
26

Kohuwai
Beaumaris

7 years
15 months

In the Residence of Thomas Taylor at Beaumaris

97/2951

10 July 1897

Rev. J. C. Andrews, Church of England

No	18
Date of Notice	10 July 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alfred Toogood	Alice Maud Taylor
BDM Match (97%)	John Alfred Toogood	Alice Maude Taylor
	💍 1897/1814
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic duties
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Kohuwai	Beaumaris
Length of Residence	7 years	15 months
Marriage Place	In the Residence of Thomas Taylor at Beaumaris
Folio	97/2951
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Andrews, Church of England

17 July 1897

John Robert Thear
Ethel Harriet Lang

John Robert Thew
Ethel Harriett Lang
💍 1897/1791

Bachelor
Spinster

Ploughman
Domestic duties

22
18

Riversdale
Kohuwai

2 1/2 years
2 1/2 years

The Wesleyan Parsonage, Masterton

97/2952

17 July 1897

Rev. J. Smalley, Wesleyan

No	19
Date of Notice	17 July 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Robert Thear	Ethel Harriet Lang
BDM Match (91%)	John Robert Thew	Ethel Harriett Lang
	💍 1897/1791
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ploughman	Domestic duties
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Riversdale	Kohuwai
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	The Wesleyan Parsonage, Masterton
Folio	97/2952
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Smalley, Wesleyan

7 August 1897

Philip Luscombe Hollings
Fanny Elizabeth Perry

Philip Luscumbe Hollings
Fany Elizabeth Perry
💍 1897/1792

Bachelor
Spinster

Law Clerk
Domestic duties

26
23

Masterton
Masterton

3 years
23 years

The Wesleyan Church, Masterton

97/2953

7 August 1897

Rev. J. Smalley, Wesleyan

No	20
Date of Notice	7 August 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip Luscombe Hollings	Fanny Elizabeth Perry
BDM Match (96%)	Philip Luscumbe Hollings	Fany Elizabeth Perry
	💍 1897/1792
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Law Clerk	Domestic duties
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	3 years	23 years
Marriage Place	The Wesleyan Church, Masterton
Folio	97/2953
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 August 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Smalley, Wesleyan

7 August 1897

John Patrick O'Connor
Amelie Florence Wiley

John Patrick O'Connor
Amelia Florence Wiley
💍 1897/1793

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
General Servant

26
21

Masterton
Masterton

3 days
21 years

The Roman Catholic Church, Masterton

97/2954

7 August 1897

Rev. John Tuckey, Roman Catholic

No	21
Date of Notice	7 August 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Patrick O'Connor	Amelie Florence Wiley
BDM Match (98%)	John Patrick O'Connor	Amelia Florence Wiley
	💍 1897/1793
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	General Servant
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	3 days	21 years
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic Church, Masterton
Folio	97/2954
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 August 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Tuckey, Roman Catholic

2 August 1897

Henry Ellmes
Alice Amelia Cox

Henry Ellmers
Alice Amelia Cox
💍 1897/2689

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Housekeeper

35
21

Masterton
Masterton

3 days
3 days

The Church of England, Masterton

97/4011

2 August 1897

Rev. Henry E. Tuckey, Church of England

No	22
Date of Notice	2 August 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Ellmes	Alice Amelia Cox
BDM Match (96%)	Henry Ellmers	Alice Amelia Cox
	💍 1897/2689
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Housekeeper
Age	35	21
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	The Church of England, Masterton
Folio	97/4011
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 August 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. Henry E. Tuckey, 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 1903. 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).