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 303

District of Christchurch 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
16	11 January 1898	Laurence Howard Catherine Gongan	Lawrence Howard Catherine Gargan 💍 1898/2363	Bachelor Spinster	Cab owner	26 24	Christchurch Christchurch	26 years 1 year	Roman Catholic Church, Barbadoes St.	98/790	11 January 1898	Very Rev. Father Cummings, Roman Catholic
17	13 January 1898	David Craig Sarah Glimmie	David Craig Sarah Glennie 💍 1898/2389	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Domestic	37 23	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 5 days	Anne St. Presbyterian, Sydenham	98/876	13 January 1898	Rev. R. Scott Allan, Presbyterian
18	14 January 1898	Joseph Messina Bella Morse	Joseph Messina Bella Morse 💍 1898/2393	Widower Spinster	Lumper	46 24	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 24 years	Methodist Church, Lower High St.	98/820	14 January 1898	Rev. W. Tinsley, Wesleyan
19	14 January 1898	James Winfield Jordan Ellen Elizabeth Shackel	James Winfield Jordan Ellen Elizabeth Shackel 💍 1898/635	Bachelor Spinster	Baker Domestic	21 24	Christchurch Christchurch	19 years 24 years	Registrar's Office	98/826	14 January 1898	Registrar of Marriages, J. S. Macfarlane
20	15 January 1898	George Davidson Otway Mary Ida	George Davidson Mary Ida Otway 💍 1898/705	Widower Spinster	School Master	38 26	Christchurch Christchurch	49 years 1 year	Branch Church, New Brighton	98/850	15 January 1898	Rev. F. K. Inwood, Church of England
21	15 January 1898	Frank Burley Card Leah Rachel Smith	Frank Burley Curd Lena Rachel Smith 💍 1898/2371	Bachelor Spinster	School Master Teacher	25 25	Christchurch Christchurch	4 weeks 4 years	St. Michaels Church	98/822	15 January 1898	Rev. A. W. Averill, Church of England
22	17 January 1898	Frederic Horton Bright Mary Ann Fielding	Frederic Horton Bright Mary Ann Fielding 💍 1898/636	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 21	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 3 years	Registrar's Office	98/721	17 January 1898	Registrar of Marriages, J. S. Macfarlane
23	17 January 1898	Ernest William Jordan Alice Jenny Fowler	Ernest William Jordan Alice Jenny Fowler 💍 1898/703	Bachelor Spinster	Packer Domestic	21 24	Christchurch Christchurch	24 years 24 years	Wesleyan Church, St. Albans	98/848	17 January 1898	Rev. W. Lee, Wesleyan

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).