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 041

District of Drury Quarter ending 31 March 1898 Registrar Sam Walker

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

3 January 1898

Frederick William Rademacher
Amy Scott

Fredrick William Rademacher
Amy Scott
💍 1898/157

Bachelor
Spinster

Brick Layer

29
21

Papakura Valley
Papakura Valley

5 years
16 years

Episcopalian Church

98/174

3 January 1898

Rev. O. R. Hewlell, Church of England

No	1
Date of Notice	3 January 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Rademacher	Amy Scott
BDM Match (98%)	Fredrick William Rademacher	Amy Scott
	💍 1898/157
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brick Layer
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Papakura Valley	Papakura Valley
Length of Residence	5 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Episcopalian Church
Folio	98/174
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. O. R. Hewlell, Church of England

3 February 1898

John Cummings
Agnes Pellow

John Cummings
Agnes Pellon
💍 1898/160

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
22

Onehunga
Tuakau

9 years
15 years

House of William Pellow, All Souls

98/197

3 February 1898

Rev. W. F. Findlay, Presbyterian Minister

No	2
Date of Notice	3 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Cummings	Agnes Pellow
BDM Match (96%)	John Cummings	Agnes Pellon
	💍 1898/160
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Onehunga	Tuakau
Length of Residence	9 years	15 years
Marriage Place	House of William Pellow, All Souls
Folio	98/197
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. F. Findlay, Presbyterian Minister

4 February 1898

Albert Edward Bailey
Emily Maria Poynter

Albert Edward Bailey
Emily Maria Poynter
💍 1898/158

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
28

Clevedon
Clevedon

5 days
16 years

Church

98/175

4 February 1898

Rev. O. R. Hewlell, Church of England

No	3
Date of Notice	4 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward Bailey	Emily Maria Poynter
	💍 1898/158
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Clevedon	Clevedon
Length of Residence	5 days	16 years
Marriage Place	Church
Folio	98/175
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. O. R. Hewlell, Church of England

15 February 1898

Henry Andrew Smith
Elinor Hamilton

Henry Andrew Smith
Elinor Hamilton
💍 1898/161

Widower
Spinster

Farmer

38
21

Pukekohe
Pukekohe

4 days
12 years

House of Margaret Hamilton, Pukekohe

98/178

15 February 1898

Rev. F. B. Dobson, Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	15 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Andrew Smith	Elinor Hamilton
	💍 1898/161
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	38	21
Dwelling Place	Pukekohe	Pukekohe
Length of Residence	4 days	12 years
Marriage Place	House of Margaret Hamilton, Pukekohe
Folio	98/178
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. B. Dobson, Church of England

25 February 1898

Herbert James Bull
Lucy Emma Whitechurch

Herbert James Bull
Lucy Emma Whitechurch
💍 1898/159

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

29
27

Clevedon
Papakura Valley

2 years
16 years

Episcopalian Church

98/176

25 February 1898

Rev. O. R. Hewlell, Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	25 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert James Bull	Lucy Emma Whitechurch
	💍 1898/159
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Clevedon	Papakura Valley
Length of Residence	2 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Episcopalian Church
Folio	98/176
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. O. R. Hewlell, Church of England

24 March 1898

Andrew Fewell
Emma Jane Aicken

Andrew French
Emma Jane Aicken
💍 1898/1252

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

44
25

Paparata
Aramoho, South

10 years
11 years

House of Patrick Aicken, Paparata Valley

98/147

24 March 1898

Rev. W. F. Findlay, Presbyterian Minister

No	6
Date of Notice	24 March 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Fewell	Emma Jane Aicken
BDM Match (81%)	Andrew French	Emma Jane Aicken
	💍 1898/1252
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	44	25
Dwelling Place	Paparata	Aramoho, South
Length of Residence	10 years	11 years
Marriage Place	House of Patrick Aicken, Paparata Valley
Folio	98/147
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. F. Findlay, Presbyterian Minister

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 1903. 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).