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 050

District of Hamilton Quarter ending 31 March 1898 Registrar Thomas Kirk

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

31 January 1898

Patrick O'Dwyer
Bessie Gallagher

Patrick O'Dwyer
Bessie Gallagher
💍 1898/170

Bachelor
Spinster

Setter

34
31

Hamilton
Hamilton

3 days
3 days

In the Roman Catholic Church at Hamilton East

98/186

31 January 1898

Rev. D. A. Amandoline, Roman Catholic

No	1
Date of Notice	31 January 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick O'Dwyer	Bessie Gallagher
	💍 1898/170
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Setter
Age	34	31
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the Roman Catholic Church at Hamilton East
Folio	98/186
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. A. Amandoline, Roman Catholic

10 February 1898

Richard Johnson Melville
Mary Ann Davys

Richard Johnson Melville
Mary Ann Davys
💍 1898/580

Bachelor
Spinster

Creamery Manager

24
28

Hamilton
Hamilton

4 days
4 days

In the house of Mr. James Davys, Hamilton

98/618

10 February 1898

Rev. John Hosking D.D., Wesleyan

No	2
Date of Notice	10 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Johnson Melville	Mary Ann Davys
	💍 1898/580
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Creamery Manager
Age	24	28
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. James Davys, Hamilton
Folio	98/618
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Hosking D.D., Wesleyan

11 March 1898

John Kenneth Sutherland
Jane Smith

John Kenneth Sutherland
Jane Smith
💍 1898/2642

John Jenkins
Janet Smith
💍 1899/1231

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27
24

Karamu
Karamu

6 years
Since birth

In the office of the Registrar at Hamilton

98/187

11 March 1898

John S. Edgecumbe, Deputy Registrar

No	3
Date of Notice	11 March 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Kenneth Sutherland	Jane Smith
	💍 1898/2642
BDM Match (63%)	John Jenkins	Janet Smith
	💍 1899/1231
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Karamu	Karamu
Length of Residence	6 years	Since birth
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar at Hamilton
Folio	98/187
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1898
Officiating Minister	John S. Edgecumbe, Deputy Registrar

21 March 1898

John Godfrey
Isabel Watt Reed

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

27
21

Ngaruawahia
Ngaruawahia

3 days
Since birth

In the house of Mr. Alexander Nicol at Ngaruawahia

98/188

23 March 1898

Rev. James Murdock Mitchell, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	21 March 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Godfrey	Isabel Watt Reed
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Ngaruawahia	Ngaruawahia
Length of Residence	3 days	Since birth
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Alexander Nicol at Ngaruawahia
Folio	98/188
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Murdock Mitchell, Presbyterian

24 March 1898

Walter Holtzmeyer Wight
Alvina Rosa Noble

Walter Holtzmeyer Wight
Alexina Rosa Noble
💍 1898/581

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

29
28

Karamu
Karamu

3 days
15 years

In the house of Mr. Robert Noble, Karamu

98/619

24 March 1898

Rev. Frank George Evans, Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	24 March 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Holtzmeyer Wight	Alvina Rosa Noble
BDM Match (94%)	Walter Holtzmeyer Wight	Alexina Rosa Noble
	💍 1898/581
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Karamu	Karamu
Length of Residence	3 days	15 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Robert Noble, Karamu
Folio	98/619
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. Frank George Evans, 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 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).