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 238

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1898 Registrar Frederick William 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

21 February 1898

George John White
Mary Emily Sissott Spurr

George John White
Mary Emily Sisson
💍 1898/498

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer

42
26

Poverty Bay
Wellington

20 years
26 years

Private house of H. Muir Esq., Woolcombe St., Poverty Bay

98/521

21 February 1898

Rev C. S. Ogg

No	80
Date of Notice	21 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George John White	Mary Emily Sissott Spurr
BDM Match (83%)	George John White	Mary Emily Sisson
	💍 1898/498
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer
Age	42	26
Dwelling Place	Poverty Bay	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Private house of H. Muir Esq., Woolcombe St., Poverty Bay
Folio	98/521
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev C. S. Ogg

22 February 1898

John Ernest Smith
Mary Ann Geddis

John Ernest Smith
Mary Ann Geddis
💍 1898/461

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

22
22

Wellington
Wellington

7 months
15 months

Rev J. K. Elliott's Manse, Pirie Street, Wellington

98/506

22 February 1898

Rev J. K. Elliott

No	81
Date of Notice	22 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ernest Smith	Mary Ann Geddis
	💍 1898/461
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 months	15 months
Marriage Place	Rev J. K. Elliott's Manse, Pirie Street, Wellington
Folio	98/506
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev J. K. Elliott

22 February 1898

James Wall
Gertrude Maria Grimmer

James Wall
Gertrude Maria Grimmer
💍 1898/499

Bachelor
Divorced

Farmer

27
24

Martinborough, Wairarapa
Martinborough, Wairarapa

5 years
2 years

St. John's Manse, Wellington

98/522

Decree absolute produced 22/1/98

22 February 1898

Rev James Paterson

No	82
Date of Notice	22 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Wall	Gertrude Maria Grimmer
	💍 1898/499
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced
Profession	Farmer
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Martinborough, Wairarapa	Martinborough, Wairarapa
Length of Residence	5 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Manse, Wellington
Folio	98/522
Consent	Decree absolute produced 22/1/98
Date of Certificate	22 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev James Paterson

23 February 1898

Robert McCallum
Hannah Williamson Gummion

Robert McCallum
Hannah Williamson Gunnion
💍 1898/2666

Bachelor
Spinster

Salvation Army Officer
Salvation Army Officer

39
29

Norwood
Naseby

5 months
4 months

Salvation Army Citadel, Vivian St., Wellington

98/575

23 February 1898

Major Joseph Birkenshaw

No	83
Date of Notice	23 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert McCallum	Hannah Williamson Gummion
BDM Match (96%)	Robert McCallum	Hannah Williamson Gunnion
	💍 1898/2666
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salvation Army Officer	Salvation Army Officer
Age	39	29
Dwelling Place	Norwood	Naseby
Length of Residence	5 months	4 months
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Citadel, Vivian St., Wellington
Folio	98/575
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Major Joseph Birkenshaw

23 February 1898

Frederick Henry Davis
Mary Borland

Frederick Henry Davis
Mary Borland
💍 1898/561

Widower
Widow

Wharf employee

45
46

Wellington
Wellington

20 years
1 year

Registrar's Office, Wellington

98/598

23 February 1898

F. W. Mansfield, Registrar

No	84
Date of Notice	23 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Henry Davis	Mary Borland
	💍 1898/561
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Wharf employee
Age	45	46
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	98/598
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1898
Officiating Minister	F. W. Mansfield, Registrar

24 February 1898

George Scott Reid
Hannah Jane Brightmore

George Scott Reid
Hannah Jane Brightmore
💍 1898/462

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier

27
25

Wellington
Wellington

16 years
3 years

Private house of Mr. Jas. Reid, Roseburgh St., Wellington

98/507

24 February 1898

Rev J. K. Elliott

No	85
Date of Notice	24 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Scott Reid	Hannah Jane Brightmore
	💍 1898/462
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	16 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Private house of Mr. Jas. Reid, Roseburgh St., Wellington
Folio	98/507
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev J. K. Elliott

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).