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 122

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 31 March 1898 Registrar C. E. Nicholas

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
1	4 January 1898	George Castleton Lowe Mary Hutchison Smith	George Castleton Lowe Mary Hutchison Smith 💍 1898/2823	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	29 28	Auckland Hikurangi	14 years 20 years	Office of the Registrar, Whangarei	98/141		4 January 1898	The Registrar
2	6 January 1898	Alfred Nobes Alice Elizabeth Rowley	Alfred Nobes Alice Elizabeth Rowley 💍 1898/243	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 16	Hukerenui Hukerenui	14 days 11 years	Christ Church, Whangarei	98/267	Edward Rowley, father	6 January 1898	Rev. L. L. Cubitt
3	15 January 1898	John Griffin Eleanor Beatrice Boyd	John Griffin Eleanor Beatrice Boyd 💍 1898/244	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 19	Whangarei Whangarei	8 years 19 years	Residence of Brides Parents, Whangarei	98/268	John F Boyd, father	15 January 1898	Rev. L. L. Cubitt
4	11 February 1898	James William Matilda Helen Gunson	James Williams Matilda Helen Gunson 💍 1898/248	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 22	Helena Bay Otaika	1 year 22 years	Residence of Brides Parents, Otaika	98/271		11 February 1898	Rev. J. H. Smiers
5	26 February 1898	George Morely Robertshaw Ada Florence Bennett	George Morley Robertshaw Ada Florence Bennett 💍 1898/240	Bachelor Widow	Settler	47 30	Whangarei Whangarei	8 months 6 months	Office of the Deputy Registrar, Whangarei	98/264		26 February 1898	Deputy Registrar
6	2 March 1898	Charles Keyte Susannah Shepherd	Charles Kryta Susannah Shepherd 💍 1898/241	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	24 30	Whangarei Whangarei	24 years 9 months	Office of the Registrar, Whangarei	98/265		2 March 1898	The Registrar
7	9 March 1898	George Faulkner Ellen Low	George Faulkner Ellen Low 💍 1898/242	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	25 24	Otonga East Otonga East	10 years 16 years	Office of the Registrar, Whangarei	98/266		9 March 1898	The Registrar
8	12 March 1898	George Henry Doil Margaret Johnson	George Henry Doel Margaret Johnson 💍 1898/245	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	33 19	Kiripaka Kiripaka	6 years 2 years	Christ Church, Whangarei	98/269	G. Johnson, father	12 March 1898	Rev. L. L. Cubitt
9	14 March 1898	Edward Harvey Seager Eliza Mary Walton	Edward Harry Seager Eliza Mary Walton 💍 1898/249	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	25 26	Whanganui Kamo	1 year 26 years	Wesleyan Church, Kamo	98/272		14 March 1898	Rev. B. F. Rothwell
10	13 March 1898	James William Booth Rawnsley Violet Marion Steele	James William Booth Rawnsley Violet Marian Steele 💍 1898/247	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	21 21	Poroh Poroh	21 years 2 months	Residence of Bridegroom's Parents, Poroh	98/270		23 March 1898	Rev. L. L. Cubitt

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 1899. 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).