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 116

District of Waihi Quarter ending 31 March 1898 Registrar Albert L. Brown

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

8 January 1898

Charles Edward Mace
Louisa Ann Frisken

Charles Edward Mace
Louisa Jane Whitaker
💍 1898/254

Bachelor
Widow

Miner

24 years
32 years

Waihi
Waihi

6 years
4 years

St. James, Waihi

98/254

8 January 1898

Rev. E. J. McFarland

No	42
Date of Notice	8 January 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edward Mace	Louisa Ann Frisken
BDM Match (80%)	Charles Edward Mace	Louisa Jane Whitaker
	💍 1898/254
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Miner
Age	24 years	32 years
Dwelling Place	Waihi	Waihi
Length of Residence	6 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. James, Waihi
Folio	98/254
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. J. McFarland

14 January 1898

William Thompson
Florence May Williams

William Thompson
Florence May Williams
💍 1898/257

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

29 years
19 years

Te Aroha
Te Aroha

2 years
8 months

Registrar's Office, Waihi

98/257

Marion Williams, mother

14 January 1898

Registrar of Marriages, Waihi

No	43
Date of Notice	14 January 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thompson	Florence May Williams
	💍 1898/257
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	29 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Te Aroha	Te Aroha
Length of Residence	2 years	8 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Waihi
Folio	98/257
Consent	Marion Williams, mother
Date of Certificate	14 January 1898
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Waihi

15 January 1898

James Page
Mary Ann McLean

James Page
Mary McClure
💍 1898/258

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

29 years
21 years

Waihi
Waihi

2 years
4 months

Private Residence, Waihi

98/259

15 January 1898

Rev. John W. Burton

No	44
Date of Notice	15 January 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Page	Mary Ann McLean
BDM Match (70%)	James Page	Mary McClure
	💍 1898/258
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	29 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Waihi	Waihi
Length of Residence	2 years	4 months
Marriage Place	Private Residence, Waihi
Folio	98/259
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. John W. Burton

25 January 1898

Joseph Walter Terrill
Lavinia Martha Gibbons

Joseph Walter Terrill
Lavinia Martha Gibbons
💍 1898/255

Widower
Spinster

Saddler

33 years
25 years

Waihi
Waihi

3 years
2 years 8 months

St. John's Church, Waihi

98/255

25 January 1898

Rev. William Henry Glenn

No	45
Date of Notice	25 January 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Walter Terrill	Lavinia Martha Gibbons
	💍 1898/255
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Saddler
Age	33 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Waihi	Waihi
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years 8 months
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Waihi
Folio	98/255
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Henry Glenn

5 February 1898

William John Stuart Downie
Lenora Donnelly

William John Stuart Downie
Hanora Donnelly
💍 1898/256

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

40
34

Waihi
Waihi

2 years
3 months

Geo. Pennells Residence, Waihi

98/256

5 February 1898

Rev. William Henry Glenn

No	46
Date of Notice	5 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Stuart Downie	Lenora Donnelly
BDM Match (93%)	William John Stuart Downie	Hanora Donnelly
	💍 1898/256
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	40	34
Dwelling Place	Waihi	Waihi
Length of Residence	2 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Geo. Pennells Residence, Waihi
Folio	98/256
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Henry Glenn

18 February 1898

Thomas Samuel Leggo
Leah Edwards

Thomas Saundry Leggo
Leah Edwards
💍 1898/236

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Dress Maker

26 years
21 years

Waihi
Waihi

2 years 9 months
2 years 9 months

Private Residence, Waihi

98/260

18 February 1898

Rev. John W. Burton

No	47
Date of Notice	18 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Samuel Leggo	Leah Edwards
BDM Match (88%)	Thomas Saundry Leggo	Leah Edwards
	💍 1898/236
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Dress Maker
Age	26 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Waihi	Waihi
Length of Residence	2 years 9 months	2 years 9 months
Marriage Place	Private Residence, Waihi
Folio	98/260
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. John W. Burton

25 February 1898

Alexander James Barron
Lillian Izzard

Alexander James Barron
Lillian Izzard
💍 1898/2644

Bachelor
Spinster

Brickmaker

25 years
18

Waihi
Waihi

14 months
2 years 6 months

Registrar's Office, Waihi

98/258

William Izzard, father

25 February 1898

Registrar, Waihi

No	48
Date of Notice	25 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander James Barron	Lillian Izzard
	💍 1898/2644
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brickmaker
Age	25 years	18
Dwelling Place	Waihi	Waihi
Length of Residence	14 months	2 years 6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Waihi
Folio	98/258
Consent	William Izzard, father
Date of Certificate	25 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Registrar, Waihi

14 March 1898

Samuel Bresnahan
Margaret Hanna

Samuel Bresnahan
Margaret Hanna
💍 1898/237

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

29
26

Te Aroha
Te Aroha

3 months
3 months

Private Residence, Te Aroha

98/261

14 March 1898

Rev. James J. Hould

No	49
Date of Notice	14 March 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Bresnahan	Margaret Hanna
	💍 1898/237
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Te Aroha	Te Aroha
Length of Residence	3 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Private Residence, Te Aroha
Folio	98/261
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. James J. Hould

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).