Intentions to Marry, 1898 January-June

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840413, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, June 27 2025

1898 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 019

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1898 Registrar E. H. Lyons

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

25 February 1898

Alfred Hallows Brett
Laura Louisa Bailey

Alfred Hallows Brett
Laura Louisa Bailey
💍 1898/62

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23
20

Maungatautari, Waikato
Auckland

2 years
20 years

House of Mrs. Follas, Grafton Road

98/70

Charles Bailey, father

25 February 1898

Rev. R. Sommerville, Presbyterian

No	99
Date of Notice	25 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Hallows Brett	Laura Louisa Bailey
	💍 1898/62
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Maungatautari, Waikato	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. Follas, Grafton Road
Folio	98/70
Consent	Charles Bailey, father
Date of Certificate	25 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Sommerville, Presbyterian

100

25 February 1898

Isaac Cook
Maria Smith

Isaac Cook
Maria Smith
💍 1898/120

Bachelor
Spinster

Iron worker

35
22

Auckland
Auckland

22 years
20 years

St. Matthew's Church, Auckland

98/114

25 February 1898

Rev. L. Fitz Gerald, Church of England

No	100
Date of Notice	25 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Isaac Cook	Maria Smith
	💍 1898/120
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Iron worker
Age	35	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	22 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Auckland
Folio	98/114
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. Fitz Gerald, Church of England

101

26 February 1898

Alexander James Farquhar
Agnes Shanks Robinson

Alexander James Farquhar
Agnes Shanks Robinson
💍 1898/141

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

29
24

Auckland
Auckland

29 years
12 years

Presbyterian Church, Onehunga

98/157

26 February 1898

Rev. R. Wyllie, Presbyterian

No	101
Date of Notice	26 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander James Farquhar	Agnes Shanks Robinson
	💍 1898/141
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	29 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Onehunga
Folio	98/157
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Wyllie, Presbyterian

102

28 February 1898

John Davies Fyfe
Jemima Crombie Hill

John Davies Fyfe
Jemima Crombie Hill
💍 1898/128

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

38
28

Waitekauri
Wyndham, N.Z.

11 months
11 years

St. James' Presbyterian Parsonage, Auckland

98/119

28 February 1898

Rev. R. F. Macnicol, Presbyterian

No	102
Date of Notice	28 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Davies Fyfe	Jemima Crombie Hill
	💍 1898/128
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	38	28
Dwelling Place	Waitekauri	Wyndham, N.Z.
Length of Residence	11 months	11 years
Marriage Place	St. James' Presbyterian Parsonage, Auckland
Folio	98/119
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. F. Macnicol, Presbyterian

103

28 February 1898

Arthur John Macgregor Laird
Amy Gertrude Wheeler

Arthur John MacGregor Laird
Amy Wheeler
💍 1898/70

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

22
23

Auckland
Auckland

22 years
15 years

House of Father of Bride, Jervois Road

98/55

28 February 1898

Rev. A. Peters, Wesleyan

No	103
Date of Notice	28 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur John Macgregor Laird	Amy Gertrude Wheeler
BDM Match (76%)	Arthur John MacGregor Laird	Amy Wheeler
	💍 1898/70
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	22 years	15 years
Marriage Place	House of Father of Bride, Jervois Road
Folio	98/55
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Peters, Wesleyan

104

28 February 1898

Edward Albert Bruce
Marion Brownlee

Edward Albert Bruce
Marion Brownlee
💍 1898/143

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

28
21

Auckland
Hokianga

21 years
10 years

St. Mary's Church, Kohukohu

98/158

28 February 1898

Rev. Geo. Pearson, Wesleyan

No	104
Date of Notice	28 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Albert Bruce	Marion Brownlee
	💍 1898/143
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Hokianga
Length of Residence	21 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Kohukohu
Folio	98/158
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Pearson, Wesleyan

105

28 February 1898

Robert Arthur Smith
Margaret Braun

Robert Arthur Smith
Margaret Braun
💍 1898/83

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler

22
21

Auckland
Auckland

22 years
6 months

The Tabernacle, Auckland

98/93

28 February 1898

Pastor J. Clark, Baptist

No	105
Date of Notice	28 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Arthur Smith	Margaret Braun
	💍 1898/83
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	22 years	6 months
Marriage Place	The Tabernacle, Auckland
Folio	98/93
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Pastor J. Clark, Baptist

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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 1908. 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).