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 240

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

3 March 1898

Thomas Wormald
Etta Maria Alldridge

Thomas Wormald
Ella Maria Alldridge
💍 1898/504

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine driver

38
20

Maranui, Lyells Bay
Wellington

1 year

Private house of Mr Redshaw, 196 Taranaki Street, Wellington

98/555

John Aldridge, father

3 March 1898

Rev. Albert G. Lawry

No	92
Date of Notice	3 March 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Wormald	Etta Maria Alldridge
BDM Match (95%)	Thomas Wormald	Ella Maria Alldridge
	💍 1898/504
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver
Age	38	20
Dwelling Place	Maranui, Lyells Bay	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year
Marriage Place	Private house of Mr Redshaw, 196 Taranaki Street, Wellington
Folio	98/555
Consent	John Aldridge, father
Date of Certificate	3 March 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. Albert G. Lawry

4 March 1898

William Henry Barrow
Emma Sarah Ann Taylor

William Henry Barrow
Emma Sarah Ann Taylor
💍 1898/522

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

22
21

Pahautanui
Pahautanui

22 years
21 years

Church of England

98/577

4 March 1898

Rev. J. L. Cameron

No	93
Date of Notice	4 March 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Barrow	Emma Sarah Ann Taylor
	💍 1898/522
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Pahautanui	Pahautanui
Length of Residence	22 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	98/577
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. L. Cameron

4 March 1898

Andrew Bowman
Emma Robertson

Andrew Bowman
Emma Robertson
💍 1898/478

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

35
20

Waikanae
Waikanae

13 years
13 years

Private house of Mr P. Wilson, 101 Mulgrave Street, Wellington

98/523

Emma Robertson, mother

4 March 1898

Rev. C. S. Ogg

No	94
Date of Notice	4 March 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Bowman	Emma Robertson
	💍 1898/478
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	35	20
Dwelling Place	Waikanae	Waikanae
Length of Residence	13 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Private house of Mr P. Wilson, 101 Mulgrave Street, Wellington
Folio	98/523
Consent	Emma Robertson, mother
Date of Certificate	4 March 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. S. Ogg

7 March 1898

William Neff
Minnie Spittal

William Duff
Minnie Isabel Spittall
💍 1898/2677

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

23
21

Wellington
Wellington

22 years
20 years

Private home of Mr Spittal, St Mary Street, Wellington

98/498

7 March 1898

Rev. James Paterson

No	95
Date of Notice	7 March 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Neff	Minnie Spittal
BDM Match (73%)	William Duff	Minnie Isabel Spittall
	💍 1898/2677
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	22 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Private home of Mr Spittal, St Mary Street, Wellington
Folio	98/498
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 March 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Paterson

7 March 1898

Silas Pugsley
Mary Adams

Silas John Pugsley
Mary Adams
💍 1898/513

Widower
Widow

Porter

57
36

Wellington
Wellington

14 years
5 years

St Mary's of the Angels Church, Boulcott Street, Wellington

98/544

7 March 1898

Rev. Thomas O'Shea

No	96
Date of Notice	7 March 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Silas Pugsley	Mary Adams
BDM Match (86%)	Silas John Pugsley	Mary Adams
	💍 1898/513
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Porter
Age	57	36
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	14 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's of the Angels Church, Boulcott Street, Wellington
Folio	98/544
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 March 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas O'Shea

7 March 1898

Charles Richard Bowater
Isabella McHeap

Charles Richard Bowater
Isabella McLean
💍 1898/2807

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

23
26

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
7 years

Private home of Mr Andrews, 26 Hopper Street, Wellington

98/578

7 March 1898

Major Joseph Bertincham

No	97
Date of Notice	7 March 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Richard Bowater	Isabella McHeap
BDM Match (93%)	Charles Richard Bowater	Isabella McLean
	💍 1898/2807
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	23	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Private home of Mr Andrews, 26 Hopper Street, Wellington
Folio	98/578
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 March 1898
Officiating Minister	Major Joseph Bertincham

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 1903. 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).