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 867

District of Temuka 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
6	4 April 1898	Geo Albert Greenwood Ada Harriet Oldfield	George Albert Erwood Ada Harriet Oldfield 💍 1898/2877	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	27 19	Temuka Temuka	27 years 19 years	Church of England	98/2590	Henry [illegible]	4 April 1898	Thos Darley
7	6 April 1898	James Austin Ellen Stewart	James Austin Junior Ellen Stewart 💍 1898/1862	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	32 31	Winchester Orari	30 years 24 years	Private Residence of Mr. [illegible]	98/2114		6 April 1898	John Dickson
8	7 April 1898	Richard Hughes Nellie Scobie	Richard Hughes Nellie Scobie 💍 1898/2878	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 26	Winchester Winchester	3 days 4 years	Church of England	98/2591		7 April 1898	Thos Darley
9	19 April 1898	Thomas Buxton Lilian Amelia Brown	Thomas Buxton Lilian Amelia Brown 💍 1898/1863	Bachelor Spinster	Merchant	34 22	Temuka Temuka	8 years 22 years	Wesleyan Church	98/2115		19 April 1898	Wm Tinsley
10	22 April 1898	Walter Alf Finch Muriel Cordelia Hornbrook	Walter Alfred Finch Muriel Cordelia Hornbrook 💍 1898/1871	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	32 30	Temuka Arowhenua	3 years 7 days	Private House of Mr. [illegible]	98/2116		22 April 1898	Wm Tinsley
11	25 April 1898	Geo B. Rippingale Sarah E. Bryant	George Blanchard Rippingale Sarah Greenly Bryant 💍 1898/1882	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	34 28	Temuka Woodhead Milford	4 days 21 years	Private Residence of [illegible]	98/2117		25 April 1898	John Dickson
12	30 April 1898	Geo Wm. Sinclair Charlotte Ann Slater	George William Sinclair Charlotte Ann Slater 💍 1898/2879	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	29 23	Temuka Temuka	13 days 23 years	Church of England	98/2592		30 April 1898	Thos Darley
13	4 May 1898	John Phillips Lucy Williams	John Phillips Lucy Williams 💍 1898/1886	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	20 20	Temuka Temuka	20 years 20 years	Registrar's Office	98/2118	John Phillips Father, Regan Williams Father	4 May 1898	P. P. White, Registrar
14	9 May 1898	Mark Preddy Emma Alice Goodeve	Mark Preddy Emma Alice Goodeve 💍 1898/2880	Widower Spinster		28 23	Temuka Waitohi Flat	23 years 23 years	Church of England	98/2593		9 May 1898	Thos Darley
15	13 May 1898	William Noyce Agnes Harriet Bassett	William Voyce Agnes Harriet Hessell 💍 1898/2881	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	29 22	Temuka Temuka	14 days 16 years	Church of England	98/2594		13 May 1898	Thos Darley
16	11 June 1898	Patrick William Hamilton Theresa Moore	Patrick William Hamilton Teresa Moore 💍 1898/1887	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	19 22	Temuka Temuka	19 years 6 years	Roman Catholic Church	98/2119	John Hamilton Father	11 June 1898	Louis Famel

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).