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 006

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
384	12 July 1897	Walter Julius Dowden Annie Bennett	Walter Julius Dowden Annie Bennett 💍 1897/1493	Bachelor Spinster	Book-keeper	34 23	Auckland Waiuku	32 years	Registrars Office	97/2561		12 July 1897	E. H. Lyons, Registrar
385	12 July 1897	George Henry Hastings Hart Ada Scott	George Henry Hastings Hart Ada Scott 💍 1897/1518	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	30 22	Auckland Auckland	5 years 2 years	St Pauls Church	97/2615		12 July 1897	Rev. H. M. Nelson, Church of England
386	12 July 1897	Patrick John Haughey Annie Jane McBready	Patrick John Haughey Annie Jane McCready 💍 1897/1531	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	28 23	Auckland Auckland	6 months 4 years	St Patricks Cathedral	97/2604		12 July 1897	Rev. F. Buckley, Roman Catholic
387	13 July 1897	Peter Weir Isabella Mercer	Peter Weir Isabella Mercer 💍 1897/1523	Bachelor Spinster	Battery Manager	45 39	Thames Auckland	27 years 27 years	House of Mr Weir	97/2619		13 July 1897	Rev. R. F. Macnicol, Presbyterian
388	13 July 1897	Thomas Joseph Graves Ellen Young	Thomas Joseph Graves Ellen Young 💍 1897/1824	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 26	Auckland Auckland	21 years 3 years	St Mathews Church	97/3013		13 July 1897	Rev. L. Fitzgerald, Church of England
389	13 July 1897	John Wright Bethia Elizabeth Jack Russell	John Wright Bethia Elizabeth Jack Russell 💍 1897/1524	Bachelor Spinster	Agent	23 20	Auckland Auckland	23 years 20 years	House of Mr Smith	97/2620	John Russell, Father	13 July 1897	Rev. R. F. Macnicol, Presbyterian
390	14 July 1897	William Martin Walsh Christina Ann Hammond	William Martin Walsh Christina Ann Hammond 💍 1897/1541	Bachelor Spinster	Quarryman	25 21	Auckland Auckland	25 years 7 years	St Lukes Church	97/2670	William Parrish, Father	14 July 1897	Rev. G. B. Munro, Presbyterian
391	14 July 1897	Frank Henry Schellhorn Emily Parrish	Frank Henry Schellhorn Emily Parrish 💍 1897/1540	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	22 15	Auckland Auckland	10 years 13 years	House of Father of Bride	97/2669		14 July 1897	Rev. J. Crump, Wesleyan
392	14 July 1897	James Herbert Whitham Mary Lynch	James Herbert Whitham Mary Lynch 💍 1897/1512	Bachelor Spinster	Electrical Engineer	26 20	Auckland Auckland	2 years 19 years	St Patricks Cathedral	97/2608	John Lynch, Father	14 July 1897	Rev. T. Mulvihill, Roman Catholic

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).