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 309

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1898 Registrar J.M. Macpherson

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

14 February 1898

Patrick Grealy
Ann Cullen

Patrick Grealy
Ann Cullen
💍 1898/689

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Housekeeper

50
32

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 days
4 years

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Manchester Street

98/783

14 February 1898

Rev. M. Marraue, Roman Catholic

No	61
Date of Notice	14 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Grealy	Ann Cullen
	💍 1898/689
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Housekeeper
Age	50	32
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 days	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Manchester Street
Folio	98/783
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Marraue, Roman Catholic

14 February 1898

Charles Penny
Jessie Mills

Charles Penney
Jessie Mills
💍 1898/721

Widower
Widow

Wesleyan Minister

46
34

Leeston
Willow Bank, Spreydon

2 years
7 years

House of Mr. Kepple

98/845

14 February 1898

Rev. W.G. Parsonson, Wesleyan

No	62
Date of Notice	14 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Penny	Jessie Mills
BDM Match (96%)	Charles Penney	Jessie Mills
	💍 1898/721
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Wesleyan Minister
Age	46	34
Dwelling Place	Leeston	Willow Bank, Spreydon
Length of Residence	2 years	7 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Kepple
Folio	98/845
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. W.G. Parsonson, Wesleyan

15 February 1898

William Cranstown Henry Wigley
Charlotte Elizabeth Turrell

William Cranstoun Henry Wigley
Charlotte Elizabeth Turrell
💍 1898/2379

Bachelor
Spinster

Barrister

27
21

Christchurch
Papanui

20 years
21 years

In the Papanui Church

98/830

15 February 1898

Rev. H.Y. Purchas

No	63
Date of Notice	15 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Cranstown Henry Wigley	Charlotte Elizabeth Turrell
BDM Match (98%)	William Cranstoun Henry Wigley	Charlotte Elizabeth Turrell
	💍 1898/2379
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barrister
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Papanui
Length of Residence	20 years	21 years
Marriage Place	In the Papanui Church
Folio	98/830
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. H.Y. Purchas

18 February 1898

William Armstrong
Ellen Parsons

William Armstrong
Ellen Parsons
💍 1898/2650

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Servant

29
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
30 days

House of Mrs. Jordan, Montreal

98/851

18 February 1898

Rev. J.A. Williams, Baptist

No	64
Date of Notice	18 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Armstrong	Ellen Parsons
	💍 1898/2650
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Servant
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	30 days
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. Jordan, Montreal
Folio	98/851
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. J.A. Williams, Baptist

18 February 1898

James Herbert Lewellyn
Bridget Sissey Heyker

James Herbert Pengelly
Bridget Lissey Hughes
💍 1898/690

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer
Domestic

26
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

26 years
13 years

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Manchester Street

98/787

18 February 1898

Rev. M. Marraue, Roman Catholic

No	65
Date of Notice	18 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Herbert Lewellyn	Bridget Sissey Heyker
BDM Match (79%)	James Herbert Pengelly	Bridget Lissey Hughes
	💍 1898/690
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer	Domestic
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	26 years	13 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Manchester Street
Folio	98/787
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Marraue, Roman Catholic

19 February 1898

William Wastcott Price
Alice Maude Calles

William Wastcott Price
Alice Maude Oakes
💍 1898/643

Bachelor
Spinster

Plasterer
Bookbinder

25
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

25 years
25 years

Registrar's Office

98/734

19 February 1898

Registrar of Marriages, J.M. Macpherson

No	66
Date of Notice	19 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Wastcott Price	Alice Maude Calles
BDM Match (92%)	William Wastcott Price	Alice Maude Oakes
	💍 1898/643
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plasterer	Bookbinder
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	25 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	98/734
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, J.M. Macpherson

19 February 1898

Fritz Claudius Frandsen
Eliza Lunnon

Fritz Claudious Frandsen
Eliza Lunnon
💍 1898/644

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Servant

30
24

Sydenham
Sydenham

23 years
24 years

Registrar's Office

98/735

19 February 1898

Registrar of Marriages, J.M. Macpherson

No	67
Date of Notice	19 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fritz Claudius Frandsen	Eliza Lunnon
BDM Match (98%)	Fritz Claudious Frandsen	Eliza Lunnon
	💍 1898/644
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Servant
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	23 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	98/735
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, J.M. Macpherson

21 February 1898

Walter Whyte Hamilton
Rachel Lockhart

Walter Whyte Hamilton
Rachel Lockhart
💍 1898/646

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Dressmaker

55
34

Christchurch
Addington

4 years
7 years

Registrar's Office

98/736

21 February 1898

Registrar of Marriages, J.M. Macpherson

No	68
Date of Notice	21 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Whyte Hamilton	Rachel Lockhart
	💍 1898/646
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	55	34
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Addington
Length of Residence	4 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	98/736
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, J.M. Macpherson

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).