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 572

District of Ohinemuri 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
92	2 April 1898	Thomas Patterson Heron Amy Hamilton	Thomas Patterson Heron Amy Hamilton 💍 1898/1545	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	29 25	Karangahake Wellington	7 months 3 years	Dwelling of Jas. Hopper, Wellington	98/1385		2 April 1898	Rev. Wm. Baumber, Wesleyan Methodist, Wellington
93	9 April 1898	Alfred John Peongie Susannah Harrison	Alfred John Scorgie Susannah Harrison 💍 1898/1182	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	22 21	Napier Paeroa	2 years 18 months	Church of England, Paeroa	98/1397		9 April 1898	Wm. H. Wilson, Paeroa
94	12 April 1898	Peter Jens Peterson Emma Jane Dale	Peter Jens Petersen Emma Jane Dale 💍 1898/1183	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	29 21	Karangahake Karangahake	1 month 2 weeks	Dwelling of J. B. Morris, Karangahake	98/1398		12 April 1898	Wm. H. Wilson, Paeroa
95	29 April 1898	John Morrison Isabella Elizabeth Sarah Adamson	John Morrison Isabella Elizabeth Sarah Adamson 💍 1898/1205	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 20	Hikutaia Retherston	8 years 10 years	Dwelling place of Mrs. Hodgson, Retherston	98/1403	Elizabeth C. Adamson, mother	29 April 1898	John W. Budon, Paeroa (Wesleyan)
96	16 May 1898	Wm. Larkins Ellery Rachel Harriet Morton	William Larkins Ellery Rachel Harriet Morton 💍 1898/1184	Bachelor Spinster	Battery hand	21 18	Karangahake Karangahake	5 years 2 years	Dwelling of Mrs. Morton, Karangahake	98/1399	Eliza A. Morton, mother	16 May 1898	Wm. H. Wilson, Paeroa
97	17 May 1898	Richard Hungerford Lillie Wallace	Richard Hungerford Lily Wallace 💍 1898/1185	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	37 23	Karangahake Karangahake	2 years 2 years	Church of England, Paeroa	98/1400		17 May 1898	Wm. H. Wilson, Paeroa
98	28 May 1898	Wm. Kelly Morrison Clara Moore	William Kelly Morrison Clara Moore 💍 1898/1186	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 24	Hikutaia Retherston	10 years 7 years	Dwelling of Wm. Retherston, Retherston	98/1401		28 May 1898	Wm. H. Wilson, Paeroa
99	30 May 1898	John Trevise Amelia Ann Johnson	John Trerise Amelia Ann Johnson 💍 1898/1210	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	28 19	Karangahake Karangahake	18 months 2 years	Dwelling of Wm. Johnson, Karangahake	98/1404	Jane Barnett, mother, Waihi	30 May 1898	Wm. H. Wilson, Paeroa
100	4 June 1898	David Salvan Alice Berg	David Galvan Alice Berg 💍 1898/1194	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	27 17	Komata Komata	2 years 2 years	Dwelling place of Jno. C. Berg, Komata	98/1402	Jno. C. Berg, father	4 June 1898	Wm. H. Wilson, Paeroa
101	9 June 1898	Rubens Berriman Tho. Paul Dickson		Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	21 27	Komata Waihi	3 months 3 years	Dwelling place of the Berriman, Komata	98/1405		9 June 1898	Father O'Reilly, Thames

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).