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 542

District of Hamilton Quarter ending 30 June 1898 Registrar Moses Work

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

18 April 1898

Collen Robert Munro
Mary Caroline Kuse

Colin Robert Munro
Maria Caroline Knox
💍 1898/1189

Bachelor
Spinster

Teacher

23
21

Hamilton
Hamilton

3 days
Since birth

In the house of Mr. John Kuse at Hamilton West

98/1380

18 April 1898

Rev. James Murdock Mitchell, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	18 April 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Collen Robert Munro	Mary Caroline Kuse
BDM Match (82%)	Colin Robert Munro	Maria Caroline Knox
	💍 1898/1189
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teacher
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	3 days	Since birth
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. John Kuse at Hamilton West
Folio	98/1380
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 April 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Murdock Mitchell, Presbyterian

12 May 1898

Henry Charles Lock
Fanny Donovan

Henry Charles Lock
Fanny Donovan
💍 1898/2129

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd

23
29

Eureka near Hamilton
Hamilton

30 years
3 years

In the house of Mr. Samuel Willis at Hamilton East

98/1381

12 May 1898

Rev. James Murdock Mitchell, Presbyterian

No	7
Date of Notice	12 May 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Charles Lock	Fanny Donovan
	💍 1898/2129
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd
Age	23	29
Dwelling Place	Eureka near Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	30 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Samuel Willis at Hamilton East
Folio	98/1381
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 May 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Murdock Mitchell, Presbyterian

21 May 1898

George William Hall
Margaret Ann Wyatt

George William Hall
Margaret Annie Wyatt
💍 1898/1190

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer

35
21

Hamilton
Hamilton

3 days
Since birth

In the house of Mr. William Wyatt at Hamilton West

98/1382

21 May 1898

Rev. John Hosking B.D., Wesleyan

No	8
Date of Notice	21 May 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Hall	Margaret Ann Wyatt
BDM Match (95%)	George William Hall	Margaret Annie Wyatt
	💍 1898/1190
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer
Age	35	21
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	3 days	Since birth
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. William Wyatt at Hamilton West
Folio	98/1382
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 May 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Hosking B.D., Wesleyan

31 May 1898

Herbert Hunt Swanson
Grace Hannah Swanson

Herbert Hunt
Grace Hannah Swanson
💍 1898/1191

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawyer

26
20

near Ngaruawahia
New Whata Whata

11 years
16 years

Office of the Registrar, Hamilton

98/1383

George Swanson, father

31 May 1898

Thomas Kirk, Registrar

No	9
Date of Notice	31 May 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Hunt Swanson	Grace Hannah Swanson
BDM Match (80%)	Herbert Hunt	Grace Hannah Swanson
	💍 1898/1191
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawyer
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	near Ngaruawahia	New Whata Whata
Length of Residence	11 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Hamilton
Folio	98/1383
Consent	George Swanson, father
Date of Certificate	31 May 1898
Officiating Minister	Thomas Kirk, Registrar

25 June 1898

Samuel Allardyce Calder
Elizabeth Iversen

Samuel Allardyce Calder
Elizabeth Iwersen
💍 1898/1192

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

31
24

Whata Whata
Whata Whata

16 years
20 years

In the house of Mr. Peter Iversen at Whata Whata

98/1384

25 June 1898

Rev. Augustus W. Jones Bradbury, Church of England

No	10
Date of Notice	25 June 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Allardyce Calder	Elizabeth Iversen
BDM Match (97%)	Samuel Allardyce Calder	Elizabeth Iwersen
	💍 1898/1192
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Whata Whata	Whata Whata
Length of Residence	16 years	20 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Peter Iversen at Whata Whata
Folio	98/1384
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 June 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. Augustus W. Jones Bradbury, Church of England

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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 1903. 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).