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 806

District of Ashburton 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
1052	1 April 1898	Hugh Muir Ann Mary Graham	Hugh Muir Ann Mary Graham 💍 1898/1688	Widower Widow	Farmer	42 32	Masterton Masterton	15 years 18 years	Registrar's Office, Ashburton	98/1931		1 April 1898	J. Ward, Registrar
1053	5 April 1898	Charles Edwin Jeffs Eleanor Mary Hodgdon	Charles Edwin Jeffs Eleanor May Hodgson 💍 1898/2247	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Weaver	31 26	Ashburton Ashburton	25 years 15 years	St. Stephen's Church, Ashburton	98/2570		5 April 1898	Revd. Thos. A. Hamilton
1054	6 April 1898	Smith Mackwell Isabella James	Smith Mackwell Isabella James 💍 1898/2254	Bachelor Spinster	Umbrella Maker	24 17	Ashburton Hampstead	2 years 16 years	Private dwelling of Revd. G. H. Mann	98/2512	Henry James, Father	6 April 1898	Revd. G. H. Mann
1055	6 April 1898	Hubert Charles Barrett Amy Greenough Bairstow	Hubert Charles Barrett Amy Greenough Bairstow 💍 1898/1689	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	28 20	Ashburton Oamaru	6 years 20 years	Registrar's Office, Oamaru	98/1932	Enoch Paul Bairstow, Father	7 April 1898	J. Ward, Registrar
1056	11 April 1898	James Raitton Withell Elizabeth G. McLauchlan	James Railton Withell Elizabeth Geddis McLauchlan 💍 1898/1691	Bachelor Spinster	Creamery Manager	33 21	Ashburton Rupipuna	3 days 19 years	Rupipuna	98/1934		11 April 1898	Revd. J. P. Skinner
1057	13 April 1898	Jesse Levin Foral Wilhelmina Selina Cobb	Jesse Lewin Soal Wilhelmina Feliciti Cobb 💍 1898/1914	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	27 18	Masterton Lismore	22 years 3 years	Private Dwelling of William Cobb, at Lismore	98/2149	William Cobb, Father	13 April 1898	Revd. Harold Purchase
1058	16 April 1898	William Price Agnes Donaldson	William Hopes Price Agnes Donaldson 💍 1898/1692	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	27 22	Longbeach Masterton	6 years 21 years	Presbyterian Church, Ashburton	98/1935		23 April 1898	Revd. J. P. Skinner
1059	20 April 1898	James Lambie Catherine Bruce	James Lambie Catherine Bruce 💍 1898/1690	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 23	Ashburton Tinwald	3 days 7 years	Private Dwelling of Mr. Bruce at Tinwald	98/1933		20 April 1898	Revd. Geo. B. Inglis
1060	10 May 1898	Thomas John Measlem Mary Elizabeth Ide	Thomas John Meaclem Mary Elizabeth Ede 💍 1898/2255 Thomas Alexander Clayden Mary Elizabeth Snell 💍 1898/2544	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	24 19	Hampstead Ashburton	14 years 19 years	Primitive Methodist Church at Ashburton	98/2513		16 May 1898	Revd. G. H. Mann
1061	28 May 1898	Edward Gates Rosa Bessie Stone	Edward Gates Rosa Bessie Stone 💍 1898/2253	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer, Government Insurance	38 25	Grove Farm, Tinwald Greenstreet	18 years 40 years	Private Dwelling of Thomas Stone at Greenstreet	98/2511		28 May 1898	Revd. Thomas Farley

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).