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 900

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 June 1898 Registrar J. J. Call

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
110	7 April 1898	John Rankin Gertrude Williams	John Rankin Gertrude Williams 💍 1898/3105	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	32 29	Caversham Caversham	18 months 3 days	In the house of Andrew Rankin, Caversham	98/3402		7 April 1898	Revd Isaac Jolly, Presbyterian Minister
111	7 April 1898	Charles Begg Katherine Ann Kerr Fraser	Charles Begg Katherine Ann Kerr Fraser 💍 1898/1946	Bachelor Spinster	Music Seller	24 23	Dunedin Dunedin	24 years 5 years	In the house of Mrs. Isabel Campbell Fraser, Russell Street	98/2205		7 April 1898	Revd James Gibb, Presbyterian Minister
112	7 April 1898	James Rackley Clara Mary Ann Phillips	James Rackley Clara Mary Ann Phillips 💍 1898/2010	Bachelor Spinster	Glazier	21 19	St Kilda Waverley	10 years 6 months	In St. Peter's Church, Caversham	98/2246	John Phillips, father of minor	7 April 1898	Revd B. M. King, Church of England Minister
113	7 April 1898	Harry James Hendon Jane Wilhelmina Harrison Hornby	Harry James Henden Jane Wilhelmin Harrison Hornby 💍 1898/3106	Bachelor Spinster	Watchmaker	32 22	Dunedin Dunedin	1 year 10 years	In the house of John Wilson, Maitland Street	98/3403		7 April 1898	Revd Isaac Jolly, Presbyterian Minister
114	9 April 1898	Alfred Henry Poole Isabella Fanny McDonald	Alfred Henry Poole Isabella Fanny Macdonald 💍 1898/2011	Bachelor Spinster	Hairdresser	23 19	Dunedin Dunedin	18 years 12 years	In St. Peter's Church, Caversham	98/2247	Murdoch McDonald, father of minor	9 April 1898	Revd B. M. King, Church of England Minister
115	9 April 1898	Thomas East Mary Jackson	Thomas East Mary Jackson 💍 1898/1918	Bachelor Spinster	Fisherman	41 18	Dunedin Dunedin	3 days 3 days	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin	98/2176	William Jackson, father of minor	9 April 1898	J. J. Call, Registrar of Marriages
116	9 April 1898	Thomas Francis Richards Catherine McGregor Black	Thomas Francis Richards Catherine McGregor Black 💍 1898/1965	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	24 24	Dunedin Dunedin	1 week 24 years	In the Methodist Church, Dundas Street	98/2274		9 April 1898	Revd W. Laycock, Methodist Minister

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 1899. 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).