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 723

District of Rangitikei 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
5	4 April 1898	John James Freeman Zillah Ann Cox	John James Freeman Zillah Ann Cox 💍 1898/1453	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Labourer	23 23	Crofton Crofton	18 months 20 years	Residence of Mr. F. C. Cox, Crofton	98/1689		4 April 1898	Revd. D. Gordon
6	9 April 1898	James Kean Jane Lowrie	James Keane Jane Lowrie 💍 1898/1460	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 18	Turakina Turakina	15 years Residence Mr. 18 years D. Lowrie Turakina	?	98/1697	Donald Lowrie, Father	9 April 1898	John Ross
7	19 April 1898	James Walker Paterson Christina McDonald	James Walker Paterson Christina McDonald 💍 1898/1461	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 26	Turakina Turakina	1 year 7 years	Presbyterian Church	98/1698		19 April 1898	John Ross
8	22 April 1898	James Still Albina Jane Galpin	James Still Albina Jane Galpin 💍 1898/2628	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 21	Upper Turakina Upper Turakina	28 years Residence Mr. 21 years Galpin Upper Turakina	?	98/1690		22 April 1898	D. Gordon
9	26 April 1898	Robert Craig Eliza Coombe	Robert Craig Eliza Combe 💍 1898/1462	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	42 32	Marton Fern Flats	3 days Residence Mr. 30 years Coombe Fern Flats	?	98/1699		26 April 1898	John Ross
10	2 May 1898	Benjamin Parkes Margaret Jane Remnant	Benjamin Parkes Margaret Jane Remnant 💍 1898/2629	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	23 18	Marton Marton	1 day Residence Mr. 18 years Remnant Marton	?	98/1691	Alfred Remnant, Father	4 May 1898	D. Gordon
11	9 May 1898	Thos. Wm. Bernhardt Voelkerling Amelia E. M. Voelkerling		Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	24 23	Marton Paraekaretu	18 years Residence Mr. 20 years	?	98/1697		9 May 1898	E. C. W. Meyer
12	9 May 1898	Walter Crawford Johnston Edith Bernice Perry	Walter Crawford Johnston Edith Bernice Perry 💍 1898/1463	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	38 26	Bonny Glen Bulls	31 years Residence Mr. 2 days	Bulls	98/1700		9 May 1898	John Ross
13	1 June 1898	Francis William Signal Lilian Louisa Meads	Francis William Signal Lilian Louisa Meads 💍 1898/2211	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 23	Porewa Porewa	2 days Residence Mr. 1 year		98/2484		14 June 1898	G. W. J. Spence

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).