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 024

District of Auckland 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
516	25 September 1897	William Newton Philcox Janet Williams Maria	William Newton Philcox Janet Maria Williams 💍 1897/1560	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	27 34	Auckland Auckland	27 years	Church of England, Devonport	97/2691		25 September 1897	Arch B. J. Dudley, Church of England
517	25 September 1897	William Henry Mospeth Bertha Isabel Gittos	William Henry Murpeth Bertha Isabel Gittos 💍 1897/2330	Bachelor Spinster	Ironmonger	26 24	Auckland Auckland	26 years	House of Father of Bride, Hamilton	97/3597		25 September 1897	Rev. H. R. Dewsbury, Wesleyan
518	27 September 1897	Charles Frederick Hollinshed Edith Marion Simmonds	Charles Frederick Hollinshed Edith Marion Simmonds 💍 1897/3744	Widower Spinster	Jeweller	27 22	Dunedin Auckland	1 year 3 years	Wesleyan Church, Pitt Street	97/2650		27 September 1897	Rev. W. J. Williams, Wesleyan
519	27 September 1897	Robert Wigmore Bertha Blendon Howard	Robert Ebigmore Bertha Clendon Howard 💍 1897/1576	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 26	Mercury Bay Auckland	29 years 26 years	St. Sepulchre's Church, Auckland	97/2685		27 September 1897	Ven. Arch. B. J. Dudley, Church of England
520	28 September 1897	Gerald Smith Edith Butterworth	Gerald Smith Edith Butterworth 💍 1897/168	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	26 21	Coromandel Auckland	2 years 21 years	Wesleyan Church, Manukau Road	97/3660		28 September 1897	Rev. A. Mitcholl, Wesleyan
521	28 September 1897	William Henry Miller Mary Heannan	William Henry Leonard Miller Mary Hannan 💍 1897/3183	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	29 21	Auckland Auckland	1 year 1 year	House of Bridegroom, Epsom	97/4708		28 September 1897	Rev. W. Beatty, Church of England
522	28 September 1897	Arthur Barter Jessie Elizabeth Campton	Arthur Carter Jessie Elizabeth Campton 💍 1897/2437	Bachelor Spinster	Slaughterman	24 20	Auckland Auckland	24 years 20 years	House of Bridegroom, Ponsonby	97/3713	Samuel Aldridge, father	28 September 1897	Ch. of Christ
523	28 September 1897	John James Wilcose Flora Myrtle Grey Flett	John James Wilcox Flora Myrtle Grey Flett 💍 1897/91	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	24 23	Thames Waihi	24 years 2 years	Registrars Office, Auckland	97/2594		28 September 1897	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

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).