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 935

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 1898 Registrar John Logan Bush

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

2 April 1898

Lachlan Fraser
Jessie Russell

Lachlan Fraser
Jessie Russell
💍 1898/2057

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32
31

Waianiwa
Waikivi

32 years
1 month

House of Mrs Elizabeth Russell, Waikivi

98/2299

2 April 1898

Rev. W. White

No	38
Date of Notice	2 April 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lachlan Fraser	Jessie Russell
	💍 1898/2057
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Waianiwa	Waikivi
Length of Residence	32 years	1 month
Marriage Place	House of Mrs Elizabeth Russell, Waikivi
Folio	98/2299
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. White

4 April 1898

John Hamilton
Christina Swan

John Hamilton
Christina Swan Newsham West
💍 1898/2043

Bachelor
Spinster

Brickmaker

24
26

Longbush
Invercargill, Clyde Street

18 years
26 years

House of Mr W. G. West

98/2309

4 April 1898

Rev. Geo. Lindsay

No	39
Date of Notice	4 April 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hamilton	Christina Swan
BDM Match (76%)	John Hamilton	Christina Swan Newsham West
	💍 1898/2043
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brickmaker
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Longbush	Invercargill, Clyde Street
Length of Residence	18 years	26 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr W. G. West
Folio	98/2309
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Lindsay

4 April 1898

David Rowland Jones
Louisa Cooling

David Rowland Jones
Louisa Cowling
💍 1898/2078

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

25
26

Clifton
Clifton

5 years
20 years

Christ Church, Clifton

98/2324

4 April 1898

Ven. Archdeacon Stocker

No	40
Date of Notice	4 April 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Rowland Jones	Louisa Cooling
BDM Match (96%)	David Rowland Jones	Louisa Cowling
	💍 1898/2078
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Clifton	Clifton
Length of Residence	5 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Christ Church, Clifton
Folio	98/2324
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1898
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon Stocker

6 April 1898

James Robert Christie
Ada Maud Clark

James Robert Christie
Ada Maud Clark
💍 1898/2034

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd

29
26

Woodlands
Ryal Bush

6 months
10 years

House of Mr James Clark, Ryal Bush

98/2300

6 April 1898

Rev. W. White

No	41
Date of Notice	6 April 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Robert Christie	Ada Maud Clark
	💍 1898/2034
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Woodlands	Ryal Bush
Length of Residence	6 months	10 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr James Clark, Ryal Bush
Folio	98/2300
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. White

6 April 1898

John Ernest Taylor
Sarah Edith Trew

John Ernest Taylor
Sarah Edith Trew
💍 1898/2069

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

29
27

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
27 years

House of Mr John Taylor, Don Street, Invercargill

98/2317

6 April 1898

Rev. W. C. Oliver

No	42
Date of Notice	6 April 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ernest Taylor	Sarah Edith Trew
	💍 1898/2069
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	27 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr John Taylor, Don Street, Invercargill
Folio	98/2317
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. C. Oliver

6 April 1898

James Borland
Elizabeth Russell

James Borland
Elizabeth Russell
💍 1898/2045

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

34
24

Gropers Bush
Waikivi

34 years
3 years

House of Mr John Russell, Waikivi, Riverton

98/2310

6 April 1898

Rev. George Lindsay

No	43
Date of Notice	6 April 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Borland	Elizabeth Russell
	💍 1898/2045
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Gropers Bush	Waikivi
Length of Residence	34 years	3 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr John Russell, Waikivi, Riverton
Folio	98/2310
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Lindsay

7 April 1898

Alfred Edward Turner
Margaret Lowrie

Alfred Edward Turner
Margaret Lowrie
💍 1898/2051

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

22
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

22 years
5 years

Office of the Registrar, Invercargill

98/2293

7 April 1898

J. L. Bush, Registrar

No	44
Date of Notice	7 April 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Edward Turner	Margaret Lowrie
	💍 1898/2051
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	22 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Invercargill
Folio	98/2293
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1898
Officiating Minister	J. L. Bush, Registrar

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).