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 602

District of Te Awamutu Quarter ending 30 June 1898 Registrar John Philip Vawse

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

3/98

25 April 1898

Samuel Armstrong
Margaret Hutchinson

Samuel Armstrong
Margaret Hutchinson
💍 1898/1222

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27
23

Kelikihi
Orakau

4 years
2 years

Church of England, Kihikihi

98/1443

25 April 1898

Rev. P. La Kayll, Church of England

No	3/98
Date of Notice	25 April 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Armstrong	Margaret Hutchinson
	💍 1898/1222
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Kelikihi	Orakau
Length of Residence	4 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Kihikihi
Folio	98/1443
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 April 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. La Kayll, Church of England

4/98

21 May 1898

Thomas Bainbridge
Laura May Reynolds

Thomas Bainbridge
Laura May Reynolds
💍 1898/1223

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
19

Pirongia
Kaipiha

7 years
19 years

Residence of Mr. Henry Reynolds

98/1444

Henry Reynolds, father

21 May 1898

Rev. P. La Kayll, Church of England

No	4/98
Date of Notice	21 May 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Bainbridge	Laura May Reynolds
	💍 1898/1223
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	19
Dwelling Place	Pirongia	Kaipiha
Length of Residence	7 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Henry Reynolds
Folio	98/1444
Consent	Henry Reynolds, father
Date of Certificate	21 May 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. La Kayll, Church of England

4/98

31 May 1898

Charles Henry Drabble
Emily Hampden Mandeno

Charles Henry Drabble
Emily Hampton Mandens
💍 1898/1225

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
33

Tuhikaramea
Te Awamutu

27 years
20 years

St. John's Church of England, Te Awamutu

98/1446

31 May 1898

Rev. P. La Kayll, Church of England

No	4/98
Date of Notice	31 May 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Drabble	Emily Hampden Mandeno
BDM Match (93%)	Charles Henry Drabble	Emily Hampton Mandens
	💍 1898/1225
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	33
Dwelling Place	Tuhikaramea	Te Awamutu
Length of Residence	27 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church of England, Te Awamutu
Folio	98/1446
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. La Kayll, Church of England

5/98

31 May 1898

William McDonald Paterson
Helen Lloyd Mandeno

William McDonald Paterson
Helen Lloyd Mandeno
💍 1898/1224

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill Manager

24
25

Ngarmuwahia
Te Awamutu

24 years
20 years

St. John's Church of England, Te Awamutu

98/1445

31 May 1898

Rev. P. La Kayll, Church of England

No	5/98
Date of Notice	31 May 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McDonald Paterson	Helen Lloyd Mandeno
	💍 1898/1224
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill Manager
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Ngarmuwahia	Te Awamutu
Length of Residence	24 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church of England, Te Awamutu
Folio	98/1445
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. La Kayll, Church of England

7/98

7 June 1898

James Holden
Te Aue

James Holden
Te Aue NR
💍 1898/1226

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
17

Waitomo
Waitomo

4 years
1 year

Residence of Mr. Thomas Holden, Rangiaohia

98/1447

Thomas Holden, father

7 June 1898

Rev. T. Apimana, Church of England

No	7/98
Date of Notice	7 June 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Holden	Te Aue
BDM Match (83%)	James Holden	Te Aue NR
	💍 1898/1226
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	17
Dwelling Place	Waitomo	Waitomo
Length of Residence	4 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Thomas Holden, Rangiaohia
Folio	98/1447
Consent	Thomas Holden, father
Date of Certificate	7 June 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Apimana, 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).