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 232

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1898 Registrar J. T. Mansfield

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 January 1898

Patrick Kelly
Mary Margaret Wilkinson

Patrick Kelly
Mary Margaret Wilkinson
💍 1898/2830

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

28
23

Wellington
Wellington

1 year
16 years

St Mary's of the Angels Church, Wellington

98/536

1 February 1898

Rev. Thomas Nevoy

No	40
Date of Notice	25 January 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Kelly	Mary Margaret Wilkinson
	💍 1898/2830
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	16 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's of the Angels Church, Wellington
Folio	98/536
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Nevoy

1 February 1898

Frank West
Norah McGrath

Frank West
Norah McGrath
💍 1898/492

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

25
24

Wellington
Wellington

9 years
4 years

St Mary's of the Angels Church, Wellington

98/537

1 February 1898

Rev. Thomas Nevoy

No	41
Date of Notice	1 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank West	Norah McGrath
	💍 1898/492
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's of the Angels Church, Wellington
Folio	98/537
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Nevoy

1 February 1898

George Murray Joseph Paul
Ellen Catherine Seward

George Murray Joseph Paul
Ellen Catherine Seward
💍 1898/500

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32
23

Blenheim
Hutt Wellington

30 years
1 year

St Mary's of the Angels Church, Wellington

98/539

1 February 1898

Rev. William N. Goggan, S.M.

No	42
Date of Notice	1 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Murray Joseph Paul	Ellen Catherine Seward
	💍 1898/500
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Hutt Wellington
Length of Residence	30 years	1 year
Marriage Place	St Mary's of the Angels Church, Wellington
Folio	98/539
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. William N. Goggan, S.M.

1 February 1898

Alfred Ernest Hargreaves
Bessie Highsted

Alfred Ernest Hargreaves
Bessie Highsted
💍 1898/486

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

27
23

Wellington
Wellington

10 years
3 years

Private house of Mr. A. Petherick, 2 Latymer's Avenue, Wellington

98/531

1 February 1898

Rev. Chas. Wallaston

No	43
Date of Notice	1 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Ernest Hargreaves	Bessie Highsted
	💍 1898/486
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Private house of Mr. A. Petherick, 2 Latymer's Avenue, Wellington
Folio	98/531
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. Chas. Wallaston

2 February 1898

John William Cook
Harriet Jane Collins

John William Cook
Harriet Jane Collins
💍 1898/487

Bachelor
Spinster

Basketmaker

30
22

Christchurch
Wellington

25 years
5 years

The house of Mr. James Collins, Thorndon St, Wellington

98/532

2 February 1898

Rev. Charles Wallaston

No	44
Date of Notice	2 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Cook	Harriet Jane Collins
	💍 1898/487
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Basketmaker
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Wellington
Length of Residence	25 years	5 years
Marriage Place	The house of Mr. James Collins, Thorndon St, Wellington
Folio	98/532
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. Charles Wallaston

2 February 1898

Andrew Duggan
Hannah O'Leary

Andrew Duggan
Hannah OLeary
💍 1898/2660

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

32
27

Wellington
Wellington

2 months
4 years

St Mary's of the Angels, Wellington

98/538

2 February 1898

Rev. Thomas Nevoy

No	45
Date of Notice	2 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Duggan	Hannah O'Leary
BDM Match (96%)	Andrew Duggan	Hannah OLeary
	💍 1898/2660
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	32	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 months	4 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's of the Angels, Wellington
Folio	98/538
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Nevoy

2 February 1898

John Brace
Susannah Drain

John Brace
Susannah Drain
💍 1898/511

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
19

Wellington
Wellington

23 years
12 years

St Mary's of the Angels Church, Wellington

98/540

2 February 1898

Rev. Thomas Nevoy

No	46
Date of Notice	2 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Brace	Susannah Drain
	💍 1898/511
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	23 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's of the Angels Church, Wellington
Folio	98/540
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Nevoy

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).