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 150

District of Napier 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
66	31 July 1897	Daniel William Loader Lily Kay	Daniel William Loader Lily Kay 💍 1897/2389	Bachelor Spinster	Soapmaker Dressmaker	21 19	Napier Napier	21 years 19 years	The Cathedral at Napier	97/3635	William Kay, Father of Bride	31 July 1897	Dean Hovell, Church of England
67	4 August 1897	George Christian Lands Jensen Sarah Holdsue	George Christian Landt Jensen Sarah Holdem 💍 1897/1738	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 23	Mangataro Valley Dannevirke	5 years 10 years	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Napier	97/2894		9 August 1897	S. Jago, Registrar
68	10 August 1897	John Henry Wright Nancy Jane Watt	John Henry Wright Nancy Jane Watt 💍 1897/2361	Bachelor Spinster	Moulder Tailoress	21 25	Napier Napier	19 years 20 years	Presbyterian Manse, Napier	97/3629		10 August 1897	Rev J. G. Paterson, Presbyterian
69	16 August 1897	George Farquarson Proctor Lily May Daisy Kelsall	George Farquarson Proctor Lily May Daisy Kelsall 💍 1897/1763	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	26 20	Napier Napier	10 years 20 years	Salvation Army Barracks	97/2900		16 August 1897	Major Joseph Birkenshaw, Salvation Army
70	19 August 1897	Ezekiel Stocker Rowe Mary Ellen Scanlan	Zekial Stoker Rowe Mary Ellen Scanlon 💍 1897/2198	Bachelor Widow	Butcher Domestic	28 32	Napier Napier	23 years 14 years	Residence of Rev. M. Grogan, Napier	97/3396		19 August 1897	Rev M. Grogan, Roman Catholic
71	24 August 1897	Alexander Knox Etterina Helen Bailey	Alexander Knox Ettarena Ellen Bailey 💍 1897/2362	Bachelor Spinster	Coachdriver	26 21	Napier Napier	6 years 6 years	Residence of Brides Father, Napier	97/3630		24 August 1897	Rev J. G. Paterson, Presbyterian
72	28 August 1897	William Knox Amelia Jane Burton	William Knox Amelia Jane Burton 💍 1897/1746	Bachelor Spinster	Woolclasser	24 22	Napier Taradale	5 days 22 years	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Napier	97/2895		28 August 1897	S. Jago, Registrar
73	2 September 1897	Stephen Galt Trail Emily Waldegrave Newman	Stephen Galt Trail Emily Waldegrave Newman 💍 1897/1765	Bachelor Spinster	School Teacher	24 21	New Plymouth Napier	4 months 18 months	Presbyterian Church, Spit	97/2902		2 September 1897	Rev Conner, 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).