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 253

District of Wairau Quarter ending 31 March 1898

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	2 February 1898	John Bateman Dick Nellie Dodson	John Bateman Dick Nellie Dodson 💍 1898/571	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 28	Ina Marina Spring Creek	26 years 5 years	House of W.D. Robb, Blenheim	98/433		2 February 1898	William Officer Robb
2	5 February 1898	Chas: Mostyn Humphreys Mary Ann Nash	Charles Mostyn Humffreys Mary Ann Nash 💍 1898/599	Widower Spinster	Miner	39 24	Waikakaho Waikakaho	20 years 3 months	House of Francis Sutton, Waikakaho	98/441		5 February 1898	William D. Goggan
3	7 February 1898	George Strange Anna Saylor	George Strange Anna Taylor 💍 1898/1597	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	32 37	Blenheim Blenheim	15 years 2 years	Office of Registrar, Blenheim	98/437		7 February 1898	Wm Jas Hawley, Registrar Blenheim
4	15 February 1898	George Edmund Parsons Mary Angela Redwood	George Edmund Parsons Mary Angela Redwood 💍 1898/2672	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 27	Karkoura Blenheim	23 years 20 years	Residence of J. Redwood, Blenheim	98/442		15 February 1898	William D. Goggan
5	23 February 1898	Andrew James Wett Ada Booker	Andrew James Wett Ada Booker 💍 1898/572	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 19	Blenheim Blenheim	3 years 19 years	House of W.D. Robb, Blenheim	98/434	John Booker, father	23 February 1898	William Officer Robb
6	23 February 1898	Alexander McLeod Catherine Wemyss	Alexander McLeod Catherine Wemyss 💍 1898/573	Bachelor Spinster	Telegraphist	35 26	Wellington Blenheim	3 years 26 years	House of D. Wemyss Senr., Blenheim	98/435		23 February 1898	William Officer Robb
7	12 March 1898	Charles Clark Josephine Pollock	Charles Clark Josephine Pollock 💍 1898/595	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	39 27	Spring Creek Spring Creek	3 years 3 years	House of Stanley Fowler, Blenheim	98/439		12 March 1898	Thomas Samuel Grace
8	12 March 1898	John Mackay Campbell Annie Margaret Renowden	John Mackay Campbell Annie Margaret Renowden 💍 1898/575	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	38 28	Blenheim Blenheim	4 years 20 years	House of W.D. Robb, Blenheim	98/436		12 March 1898	William Officer Robb
9	14 March 1898	Francis Henry Woolley Ellen Maria Eves	Francis Henry Woolley Ellen Maria Eves 💍 1898/2680	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	30 27	Spring Creek Renwicktown	20 years 20 years	House of Mr. Eves, Renwicktown	98/443		14 March 1898	William D. Goggan
10	15 March 1898	George Herbert Adams Mary Florence May Purser	George Herbert Adams Mary Florence May Purser 💍 1898/598	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	32 24	Blenheim Blenheim	30 years 15 years	House of E. Purser, Blenheim	98/440		15 March 1898	Thomas Samuel Grace
11	23 March 1898	William Henry Herd Jane Maddock	William Henry Herd Jane Maddock 💍 1898/576	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	32 30	Blenheim Blenheim	32 years 30 years	Presbyterian Church, Blenheim	98/437		23 March 1898	William Officer Robb

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 1898. More registers will be added when the Archives NZ Wellington reading room re-opens in September 2025.

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).