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 874

District of Waimate Quarter ending 30 June 1898 Registrar J. Hough Courley

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

3 May 1898

Thomas Henry Chamberlain
Edith Mary Page

Thomas Henry Chamberlain
Edith Mary Page
💍 1898/1884

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

21
20

Waimate
Waimate

21 years
20 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Waimate

98/2139

Thomas Page, Father

3 May 1898

J. Courley, Registrar of Marriages, Waimate

No	12
Date of Notice	3 May 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Chamberlain	Edith Mary Page
	💍 1898/1884
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Waimate
Length of Residence	21 years	20 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Waimate
Folio	98/2139
Consent	Thomas Page, Father
Date of Certificate	3 May 1898
Officiating Minister	J. Courley, Registrar of Marriages, Waimate

28 May 1898

James Martin Rait
Catherine Smith

James Rait Martin
Catherine Smith
💍 1898/1904

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

31
24

Waimate
Waimate

12 years
13 years

In the house of Andrew Smith

98/2142

28 May 1898

Rev. H. Kelly, Presbyterian

No	13
Date of Notice	28 May 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Martin Rait	Catherine Smith
BDM Match (76%)	James Rait Martin	Catherine Smith
	💍 1898/1904
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Waimate
Length of Residence	12 years	13 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Andrew Smith
Folio	98/2142
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Kelly, Presbyterian

31 May 1898

John Kane
Johanna Leonard

John Kane
Johanna Leonard
💍 1898/1913

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd

29
21

Waimate
Waimate

6 years
6 years

In the Roman Catholic Church, Waihao, Waimate

98/2148

31 May 1898

Rev. P. Regnault, Roman Catholic

No	14
Date of Notice	31 May 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Kane	Johanna Leonard
	💍 1898/1913
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Waimate
Length of Residence	6 years	6 years
Marriage Place	In the Roman Catholic Church, Waihao, Waimate
Folio	98/2148
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Regnault, Roman Catholic

31 May 1898

Arthur Stue
Margaret Smith

Arthur Slee
Margaret Smith
💍 1898/1908

Francis Martin
Margaret Smith
💍 1899/1557

Bachelor
Spinster

Manager of Farm

31
26

Waimate
Waimate

3 days
26 years

In the house of A. Smith

98/2143

31 May 1898

Rev. H. Kelly, Presbyterian

No	15
Date of Notice	31 May 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Stue	Margaret Smith
BDM Match (91%)	Arthur Slee	Margaret Smith
	💍 1898/1908
BDM Match (61%)	Francis Martin	Margaret Smith
	💍 1899/1557
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Manager of Farm
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Waimate
Length of Residence	3 days	26 years
Marriage Place	In the house of A. Smith
Folio	98/2143
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Kelly, Presbyterian

13 June 1898

Charles Hugh Eade
Emma Jane Atwill

Charles Hugh Eade
Emma Jane Atwell
💍 1898/1912

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

29
27

Waimate
Waimate

23 years
20 years

In the Wesleyan Chapel, Waimate

98/2147

13 June 1898

Rev. J. Dukes, Wesleyan Methodist

No	16
Date of Notice	13 June 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Hugh Eade	Emma Jane Atwill
BDM Match (97%)	Charles Hugh Eade	Emma Jane Atwell
	💍 1898/1912
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Waimate
Length of Residence	23 years	20 years
Marriage Place	In the Wesleyan Chapel, Waimate
Folio	98/2147
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 June 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Dukes, Wesleyan Methodist

17 June 1898

John William MacDonald
Miriam Louisa Collins

John William Macdonald
Miriam Louisa Collins
💍 1898/4059

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23
22

Geraldine
Waimate

23 years
1 year

In the house of W. Collins, Waimate

98/3284

17 June 1898

Rev. H. Kelly, Presbyterian

No	17
Date of Notice	17 June 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William MacDonald	Miriam Louisa Collins
BDM Match (98%)	John William Macdonald	Miriam Louisa Collins
	💍 1898/4059
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Geraldine	Waimate
Length of Residence	23 years	1 year
Marriage Place	In the house of W. Collins, Waimate
Folio	98/3284
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 June 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Kelly, Presbyterian

23 June 1898

John Vibert Hacquoil
Elizabeth Ellen Nicholson

John Vibert Hacquiol
Elizabeth Ellen Nicholson
💍 1898/1885

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

42
32

Waimate
Waimate

3 days
3 days

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Waimate

98/2140

23 June 1898

J. Courley, Registrar of Marriages

No	18
Date of Notice	23 June 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Vibert Hacquoil	Elizabeth Ellen Nicholson
BDM Match (95%)	John Vibert Hacquiol	Elizabeth Ellen Nicholson
	💍 1898/1885
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	42	32
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Waimate
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Waimate
Folio	98/2140
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 June 1898
Officiating Minister	J. Courley, 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).