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 008

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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
402	22 July 1897	Charles Edward Gravatt Edith Amelia Harding	Charles Edward Gravatt Edith Amelia Harding 💍 1897/1519	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	32 24	Pakiri Auckland	20 years 24 years	St Pauls Church, Auckland	97/2616	22 July 1897	Rev. C. M. Nelson, Church of England
403	23 July 1897	James Henry Grattan Esther McNeish	James Henry Grattan Esther McNeish 💍 1897/1495	Widower Widow	Miner	51 54	Auckland Pokeno	30 years 30 years	Registrars Office, Auckland	97/2563	23 July 1897	E. H. Lyons, Registrar
404	24 July 1897	Alfred Gubb Emily Jane Connor	Alfred Subb Emily Jane Connor 💍 1897/3745	Bachelor Spinster	Bricklayer	25 24	Thames Auckland	20 years 24 years	Catholic Apostolic Church, Auckland	97/2651	24 July 1897	Mr. W. Miller, Catholic Apostolic Church
405	26 July 1897	Frederick Stanley John Hult Clara Hannah Gardiner	Frederick Stanley John Hutt Clara Hannah Carder 💍 1897/3720	Bachelor Spinster	Machinist	24 24	Ngaruawahia Auckland	23 years 23 years	All Saints Church, Ponsonby	97/2632	26 July 1897	Rev. W. Calder, Church of England
406	26 July 1897	Victor Parker Lydia Palmer	Victor Parker Lydia Palmer 💍 1897/3731	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	21 22	Auckland Auckland	3 days 22 years	Epiphany Church, Newton	97/2612	26 July 1897	Rev. W. E. Lush, Church of England
407	26 July 1897	Alfred Sutherland Helen Mary Conroy	Alfred Litherland Helen Mary Conroy 💍 1897/7	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	23 24	Auckland Auckland	3 months 20 years	Wesleyan Church, Pitt Street	97/2647	26 July 1897	Rev. W. J. Williams, Wesleyan
408	26 July 1897	Matthew Findlay Isabel Gillard	Mathew Findlay Isabel Gillard 💍 1897/1578	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	21 22	Tamaki Tamaki	11 years 22 years	Roman Catholic Church, Panmure	97/2687	26 July 1897	Very Rev. W. McDonald, Roman Catholic
409	27 July 1897	John Archibald Cochrane Katharine Laura Murray McAllum	John Archibald Cochrane Katharine Laura Murray McCallum 💍 1897/1559	Widower Spinster	Farmer	36 22	Te Aroha Auckland	10 years 18 years	St Sepulchre's Church, Auckland	97/2680	27 July 1897	Ven. Arch. B. T. Dudley, 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).