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 594

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 June 1888 Registrar Edward Howiss

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 April 1898

Alfred James Lawry
Ruth Perry

Alfred James Lawry
Ruth Perry
💍 1898/1216

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Servant

22
20

Thames
Thames

15 months
15 months

The Office of the Registrar, Thames

98/1411

William Henry Perry, Father

2 April 1898

Edward Howiss, Registrar

No	25
Date of Notice	2 April 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred James Lawry	Ruth Perry
	💍 1898/1216
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Servant
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	15 months	15 months
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar, Thames
Folio	98/1411
Consent	William Henry Perry, Father
Date of Certificate	2 April 1898
Officiating Minister	Edward Howiss, Registrar

2 April 1898

Bernhard Silvius
Edith Smith

Bernhard Silvius
Edith Smith
💍 1898/1198

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
None

19
19

Thames
Thames

2 years
19 years

The Dwelling of Henrick Gustaf Wilhelm Silvius

98/1412

Henrick Gustaf Wilhelm Silvius, father of groom; John Coulain Smith, father of bride

11 May 1898

Rev. J. J. Serpell, Wesleyan

No	26
Date of Notice	2 April 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bernhard Silvius	Edith Smith
	💍 1898/1198
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	None
Age	19	19
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 years	19 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of Henrick Gustaf Wilhelm Silvius
Folio	98/1412
Consent	Henrick Gustaf Wilhelm Silvius, father of groom; John Coulain Smith, father of bride
Date of Certificate	11 May 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Serpell, Wesleyan

6 April 1898

Francis Battson
Eleanora Ivy Green

Francis Battson
Eleanor Ivy Green
💍 1898/1201

Bachelor
Spinster

Tinsmith
Dress Maker

30
22

Thames
Thames

9 years
4 years

The Dwelling of William Green, Richmond St

98/1420

6 April 1898

Rev. W. R. Woolley, Baptist

No	27
Date of Notice	6 April 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Battson	Eleanora Ivy Green
BDM Match (97%)	Francis Battson	Eleanor Ivy Green
	💍 1898/1201
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tinsmith	Dress Maker
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	9 years	4 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of William Green, Richmond St
Folio	98/1420
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. R. Woolley, Baptist

9 April 1898

Francis Moran
Eliza Agnes Pearce

Francis Moran
Eliza Agnes Pearse
💍 1898/1206

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

26
25

Thames
Thames

26 years
24 years

The Dwelling of Eliza M. A. Pearce, Albert St, Thames

98/1424

9 April 1898

Rev. J. O'Callaghan, Church of England

No	28
Date of Notice	9 April 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Moran	Eliza Agnes Pearce
BDM Match (97%)	Francis Moran	Eliza Agnes Pearse
	💍 1898/1206
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	26 years	24 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of Eliza M. A. Pearce, Albert St, Thames
Folio	98/1424
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. O'Callaghan, Church of England

9 April 1898

Edward Pearson
Elizabeth Fisher

Edward Pearson
Elizabeth Fisher
💍 1898/2131

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

23
21

Thames
Thames

23 years
21 years

The Dwelling of Edward Pearson, Maoritahi, Thames

98/1425

9 April 1898

Rev. J. O'Callaghan, Church of England

No	29
Date of Notice	9 April 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Pearson	Elizabeth Fisher
	💍 1898/2131
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	23 years	21 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of Edward Pearson, Maoritahi, Thames
Folio	98/1425
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. O'Callaghan, Church of England

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 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).