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 899

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 June 1898 Registrar William Joseph Hall

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

104

5 April 1898

Frederic Baker
Emily Rosetta Josephine Burt

Frederic Baker
Emily Rosetta Josephine Birt
💍 1898/2007

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

41 years
23 years

Mornington
Mornington

2 years
3 years

St Mary Church, Mornington

98/2243

5 April 1898

Rev. C. S. Bowden, Church of England Minister

No	104
Date of Notice	5 April 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederic Baker	Emily Rosetta Josephine Burt
BDM Match (98%)	Frederic Baker	Emily Rosetta Josephine Birt
	💍 1898/2007
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	41 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Mornington	Mornington
Length of Residence	2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St Mary Church, Mornington
Folio	98/2243
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 April 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. S. Bowden, Church of England Minister

105

5 April 1898

Josiah Stanaway
Esther Slater

Josiah Stanaway
Esther Slater
💍 1898/1971

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

28 years
23 years

Mornington
Mornington

2 years
2 years

In the house of Mrs Maria Slater, Mornington

98/2230

5 April 1898

Rev. W. Ready, Wesleyan Minister

No	105
Date of Notice	5 April 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Josiah Stanaway	Esther Slater
	💍 1898/1971
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	28 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Mornington	Mornington
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs Maria Slater, Mornington
Folio	98/2230
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 April 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Ready, Wesleyan Minister

106

6 April 1898

Alexander Dippie
Sarah Fennet Sinclair

Alexander Dippie Junr
Sarah Tennet Sinclair
💍 1898/2003

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

28 years
24 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

28 years
14 years

In the house of William Henry Sinclair, New Street

98/2261

6 April 1898

Rev. J. M. Fraser, Presbyterian Minister

No	106
Date of Notice	6 April 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Dippie	Sarah Fennet Sinclair
BDM Match (86%)	Alexander Dippie Junr	Sarah Tennet Sinclair
	💍 1898/2003
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	28 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	28 years	14 years
Marriage Place	In the house of William Henry Sinclair, New Street
Folio	98/2261
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Fraser, Presbyterian Minister

107

6 April 1898

William Robert Gawn
Helen Imrie

William Robert Gawn
Helen Imris
💍 1898/1945

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28 years
28 years

North Taieri
Dunedin

17 years
20 years

In the house of Mrs Marion Imrie, Princes Street, East Taieri

98/2204

6 April 1898

Rev. James Gibb, Presbyterian Minister

No	107
Date of Notice	6 April 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Robert Gawn	Helen Imrie
BDM Match (95%)	William Robert Gawn	Helen Imris
	💍 1898/1945
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	North Taieri	Dunedin
Length of Residence	17 years	20 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs Marion Imrie, Princes Street, East Taieri
Folio	98/2204
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Gibb, Presbyterian Minister

108

6 April 1898

James John Jones
Margaret McLaren

James John Jones
Margaret McLaren
💍 1898/1981

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

26 years
22 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

26 years
21 years

In the house of Alfred Johnson, Clarendon Street

98/2216

6 April 1898

Rev. W. Hewitson, Presbyterian Minister

No	108
Date of Notice	6 April 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James John Jones	Margaret McLaren
	💍 1898/1981
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	26 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	26 years	21 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Alfred Johnson, Clarendon Street
Folio	98/2216
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Hewitson, Presbyterian Minister

109

7 April 1898

William Bringle
Elizabeth Shaw

William Pringle
Elizabeth Shaw
💍 1898/1917

Widower
Spinster

Miner

41 years
30 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages

98/2175

7 April 1898

M. J. Hall, Registrar of Marriages

No	109
Date of Notice	7 April 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Bringle	Elizabeth Shaw
BDM Match (97%)	William Pringle	Elizabeth Shaw
	💍 1898/1917
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	41 years	30 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	98/2175
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1898
Officiating Minister	M. J. Hall, Registrar of Marriages

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).