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 526

District of Cambridge Quarter ending 30 June 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
2	7 April 1898	John Layne Maria Simpson	John Layne Maria Simpson 💍 1898/1117	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Domestic	22 25	Lichfield Cambridge	22 years 4 Months	Wesleyan Ch Cambridge	98/1328		7 April 1898	Rev I Scott
3	9 April 1898	C S Stuart Eva Kincaid	Charles Stephen Stuart Eva Kincaid 💍 1898/1125	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman Domestic	22 19	Cambridge Cambridge	22 years 17 years	Pres Ch Cambridge	98/1329	Annie Kincaid Mother	9 April 1898	Rev I Scott
4	9 April 1898	Alex W McCam Sarah Wilson	Alexander McCann Sarah Wilson 💍 1898/1136	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Domestic	35 22	Cambridge Cambridge	5 days 14 years	Private House of John Wilson Cambridge	98/1330		9 April 1898	Rev I Scott
5	12 April 1898	Walter K Williams Mary Bruce	Walter Keith Williams Mary Bruce 💍 1898/1142	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic	26 19	Cambridge Cambridge West	4 days 19 years	Private House of W Bruce Cambridge West	98/1331	Thos Bruce Father	12 April 1898	Rev I Scott
6	19 April 1898	Thos W Brown Louisa V Walker	Thomas Wynyard Brown Louisa Victoria Walker 💍 1898/1147	Bachelor Spinster	Huntsman	24 23	Cambridge Cambridge	2 years 23 years	Ch of Engld Cambridge	98/1336		19 April 1898	Archdeacon Willis
7	27 April 1898	Harry Rhodes Jessie Fisher	Harry Rhodes Jessie Fisher 💍 1898/1143	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic	30 47	Cambridge Pukerimu	7 days 27 years	Private House of John Fisher Pukerimu	98/1332		27 April 1898	Rev I Scott
8	13 May 1898	Alex Smith Eliz Stewart	Alexander Smith Elizabeth Stewart 💍 1898/1148	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Domestic	28 21	Cambridge Cambridge	3 Months 20 years	Private House of Robt Stewart Cambridge	98/1337		13 May 1898	Rev W Cannell
9	18 May 1898	Thos W Reid Margt Brown	Thomas Dickson Reid Margaret Brown 💍 1898/1126	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic	30 32	Cambridge Cambridge	5 days 12 years	Private House of John Brown Cambridge	98/1338		18 May 1898	Rev W Cannell
10	28 May 1898	Edward Pascoe Sarah A Grummell	Edward Pascoe Sarah Agnes Gemmill 💍 1898/1144	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Domestic	24 42	Cambridge Cambridge	14 years Since birth	Private House of Thomas Grummell Cambridge	98/1333		28 May 1898	Rev Thos Scott
11	31 May 1898	John F Vercoe Jean Scott	John Frederick Vercoe Jean Scott 💍 1898/1145	Bachelor Spinster	Agent Domestic	31 27	Paeroa Cambridge Pukerimu	3 days 15 years	Private House of Wm Scott Pukerimu	98/1334		31 May 1898	Rev Thos Scott

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).