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 759

District of Wairau 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
12	4 April 1898	Walter Webster Eunice Canton	Walter Webster Eunice Canton 💍 1898/1598	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 26	Grovetown Blenheim	20 years 3 years	Office Registrar of Marriages Blenheim	98/1838		4 April 1898	W. J. Stawley, Registrar
13	7 April 1898	Harry Kirby Sarah Maria Hatton	Harry Kirby Sarah Maria Hatton 💍 1898/1601	Bachelor Spinster	Coachbuilder	26 21	Blenheim Blenheim	20 years 13 years	Residence of Mrs. Hearne Blenheim	98/1840		7 April 1898	Rev. Wm. Keall
14	6 April 1898	Edward George Anderson Gertrude Maud Newman	Edward George Anderson Gertrude Maud Newman 💍 1898/1602	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 20	Onamalutu Onamalutu	15 years 8 years	House of Mrs. Newman Onamalutu	98/1841	Samuel Newman, father	6 April 1898	Rev. E. Ensor
15	12 April 1898	Charles William Richard Stephenson Julia Duffy	Charles William Richard Stephenson Julia Duffy 💍 1898/2217	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	30 22	Blenheim Blenheim	12 years 19 years	Roman Catholic Church Blenheim	98/2498		12 April 1898	Rev. W. H. Goggan
16	12 April 1898	David Gibson Elizabeth Bruce Macaulay	David Gibson Elizabeth Bruce Macaulay 💍 1898/1603	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	26 27	Blenheim Blenheim	3 days 27 years	Residence of W. D. Robb Blenheim	98/1842		12 April 1898	Rev. W. D. Robb
17	13 April 1898	Thomas Jeffries Agnes Mary Laura Ward	Thomas Jeffries Agnes Mary Laura Ward 💍 1898/2218	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 23	Blenheim Blenheim	25 years 23 years	Roman Catholic Church Blenheim	98/2499		13 April 1898	Rev. W. H. Goggan
18	16 April 1898	Frank Aroa Alice Annie Stockley	Frank Aroa Alice Annie Stockley 💍 1898/1604	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 28	Awatere Blenheim	24 years 3 days	Church of England Awatere	98/1843		16 April 1898	Rev. E. H. Ensor
19	18 April 1898	Frederick Leov Sarah Ellen Workman	Fredrick Leor Sarah Ellen Workman 💍 1898/1605	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	25 22	Blenheim Kekerangu	11 years 8 years	The Schoolhouse Kekerangu	98/1844		18 April 1898	Rev. Wm. Mc. Ara
20	25 April 1898	John George Ball Alice Jane Taylor	John George Ball Alice Jane Taylor 💍 1898/1600	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	22 23	Blenheim Blenheim	4 years 2 years	Office Registrar of Marriages Blenheim	98/1839		25 April 1898	W. J. Stawley, Registrar
21	28 April 1898	David Smart Lily Margareta Logan	David Smart Lily Margreata Logan 💍 1898/3838	Bachelor Spinster	Sawmiller	29 26	Onamalutu Onamalutu	25 years 4 years	House of Mrs. Lawson Kaituna	98/3087		28 April 1898	Rev. E. W. D. Robb
22	5 May 1898	Alexander Morrison Miller Amy Ann Cook	Alexander Morison Miller Amy Ann Cooke 💍 1898/1631	Bachelor Spinster	Ironmonger	33 23	Blenheim Blenheim	7 years 23 years	House of Mr. Wm. Cooke Blenheim	98/1848		5 May 1898	Rev. Wm. Keall

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).