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 299

District of Ashburton 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
1039	8 January 1898	Charles Evans Mary Ann Pawsey	Charles Evans Mary Ann Pawsey 💍 1898/630	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Domestic Servant	21 21	Ashburton Ashburton	4 days 20 months	Registrar's Office	98/713	8 January 1898	J. Ward, Registrar
1040	15 February 1898	John Wilson Christina Berg	John Wilson Christina Berg 💍 1898/633	Bachelor Spinster	Painter Dressmaker	25 23	Ashburton Ashburton	5 years 12 years	Roman Catholic Church	98/716	15 February 1898	Rev. J. J. Donnell
1041	2 March 1898	Nathan Jemmett Ruth Smith	Nathan Jemmett Ruth Smith 💍 1898/631 John Bosomworth Ruth Smith 💍 1898/4853	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	36 25	Waterton Waterton	25 years 4 months	Registrar's Office	98/714	2 March 1898	J. Ward, Registrar
1042	7 March 1898	Sidney George Hoare Frances Hitchings	Sidney George Hoare Frances Hitchings 💍 1898/2840	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer Weaver	23 21	Ashburton Ashburton	3 days 12 years at Ashburton	Private dwelling of James Hitchings	98/2514	7 March 1898	Revd. John Olphert
1043	8 March 1898	Arthur Warren Kathleen Agnes Halpin	Arthur Warren Kathleen Agnes Halpin 💍 1898/632	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker Dressmaker	30 24	Ashburton Ashburton	3 months 3 days	Registrar's Office	98/715	9 March 1898	J. Ward, Registrar
1044	16 March 1898	Joshua Tucker Annie Hardie Jamieson	Joshua Tucker Annie Hardie Jamieson 💍 1898/652	Widower Spinster	Coal & Timber Merchant	52 39	Allenton Fernyside, Ashburton	22 years 34 years	Private dwelling of Annie Hardie Jamieson	98/719	16 March 1898	Revd. Geo. B. Inglis
1045	16 March 1898	Richard James Murray Bessie Thorne Ballantyne	Richard James Murray Bessie Thorne Ballantyne 💍 1898/1695	Bachelor Spinster	Wesleyan Minister	35 27	Ashburton Ruapuna	5 days 12 months	Public Hall at Ruapuna	98/1938	16 March 1898	Revd. R. Taylor
1046	19 March 1898	William Ernest Box Mary Elizabeth Irvine	William Ernest Box Mary Elizabeth Timms 💍 1898/1694	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Labourer	24 22	Longbeach Ashton	5 years 4 years	Church of St. Philip and St. James at Waterton	98/1937	19 March 1898	Revd. J. G. Blackburne
1047	21 March 1898	Thomas Crooks Jennie Hastings Blacker	Thomas Crooks Jennie Hastings Blackler 💍 1898/653	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier	23 23	Hampstead Allenton	20 years 16 years	Private Dwelling of John Blacker at Allenton	98/720	21 March 1898	Revd. Geo. B. Inglis
1048	23 March 1898	Peter Moodie Marie Alexandra Rattray	Peter Moodie Marie Alexandra Catherine Rattray 💍 1898/1696	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Teacher	30 28	Allenton Trevorton	10 years 20 years	Private Dwelling of Peter Rattray at Trevorton	98/1939	23 March 1898	Revd. R. Taylor

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).