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 870

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 June 1898 Registrar Alexander Montgomery

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

25 April 1898

William John Rooney
Janet Clara Ferguson

William John Rooney
Janet Clara Ferguson
💍 1898/2272

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Domestic Servant

25
24

Timaru
Timaru

25 years
2 years

Dwellinghouse of Rev. W. Gillies, Timaru

98/2555

25 April 1898

Rev. Wm. Gillies, Presbyterian Minister

No	25
Date of Notice	25 April 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Rooney	Janet Clara Ferguson
	💍 1898/2272
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Domestic Servant
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	25 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of Rev. W. Gillies, Timaru
Folio	98/2555
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 April 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Gillies, Presbyterian Minister

26 April 1898

Horace William Samuel Ruffell
Ruth Annie Williams

Horace William Samuel Ruffell
Ruth Annie Williams
💍 1898/1879

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

23
21

Adair
Adair

3 days
5 years

St. Mark's English Church, Beaconsfield

98/2135

26 April 1898

Rev. L. C. Brady, Church of England Clergyman

No	26
Date of Notice	26 April 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horace William Samuel Ruffell	Ruth Annie Williams
	💍 1898/1879
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Adair	Adair
Length of Residence	3 days	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Mark's English Church, Beaconsfield
Folio	98/2135
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 April 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. C. Brady, Church of England Clergyman

27 April 1898

Arthur Henry Bourn
Edith Withers Boure

Arthur Henry Bourn
Edith Witters Bowie
💍 1898/1872

Bachelor
Spinster

Auctioneer

29
25

Timaru
Timaru

4 years
25 years

St. Mary's Church, Timaru

98/2126

27 April 1898

Rev. J. M. Whitehead, Church of England Clergyman

No	27
Date of Notice	27 April 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Henry Bourn	Edith Withers Boure
BDM Match (92%)	Arthur Henry Bourn	Edith Witters Bowie
	💍 1898/1872
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Auctioneer
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	4 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Timaru
Folio	98/2126
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 April 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Whitehead, Church of England Clergyman

5 May 1898

John Thomas Scott
Margaret Ann Hately

John Thomas Scott
Margaret Ann Hately
💍 1898/2273

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

23
22

Timaru
Timaru

4 months
6 years

Dwellinghouse of Mrs. Herr, Heaton Street, Timaru

98/2536

5 May 1898

Rev. Wm. Gillies, Presbyterian Minister

No	28
Date of Notice	5 May 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Scott	Margaret Ann Hately
	💍 1898/2273
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	4 months	6 years
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of Mrs. Herr, Heaton Street, Timaru
Folio	98/2536
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 May 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Gillies, Presbyterian Minister

12 May 1898

Henry John Sutton
Alice Ann Rothwell

Henry John Sutton
Alice Ann Rothwell
💍 1898/2714

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

22
20

Timaru
Timaru

22 years
6 days

Registrar's Office, Timaru

98/2133

James Rothwell, Father of Bride

12 May 1898

Alexander Montgomery, Registrar

No	29
Date of Notice	12 May 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry John Sutton	Alice Ann Rothwell
	💍 1898/2714
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	22 years	6 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Timaru
Folio	98/2133
Consent	James Rothwell, Father of Bride
Date of Certificate	12 May 1898
Officiating Minister	Alexander Montgomery, Registrar

17 May 1898

Thomas Thomson
Elizabeth Saunders Robinson

Thomas Thomson
Elizabeth Saunders Robinson
💍 1898/1873

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

43
20

Timaru
Timaru

20 years
20 years

St. Mary's English Church, Timaru

98/2127

Samuel Robinson, Father of Bride

17 May 1898

Rev. J. M. Whitehead, Church of England Clergyman

No	30
Date of Notice	17 May 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Thomson	Elizabeth Saunders Robinson
	💍 1898/1873
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	43	20
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's English Church, Timaru
Folio	98/2127
Consent	Samuel Robinson, Father of Bride
Date of Certificate	17 May 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Whitehead, Church of England Clergyman

18 May 1898

Joseph Goodman
Annie Elizabeth Jane Stokes

Joseph Goodman
Annie Elizabeth Jane Stokes
💍 1898/1874

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

29
26

Timaru
Timaru

29 years
16 years

St. Mary's English Church, Timaru

98/2128

18 May 1898

Rev. J. M. Whitehead, Church of England Clergyman

No	31
Date of Notice	18 May 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Goodman	Annie Elizabeth Jane Stokes
	💍 1898/1874
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	29 years	16 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's English Church, Timaru
Folio	98/2128
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 May 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Whitehead, Church of England Clergyman

21 May 1898

Michael Dalton
Norah Horgan

Michael Dalton
Norah Horgan
💍 1898/1876

Widower
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic Servant

36
29

Waimataitai
Near Timaru

15 years
14 years

Roman Catholic Church, Timaru

98/2130

21 May 1898

Rev. John Tubman, Roman Catholic Priest

No	32
Date of Notice	21 May 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Dalton	Norah Horgan
	💍 1898/1876
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic Servant
Age	36	29
Dwelling Place	Waimataitai	Near Timaru
Length of Residence	15 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	98/2130
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 May 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Tubman, Roman Catholic Priest

7 June 1898

Augustus Frederick Johnson
Amelia Turner

Augustus Frederick Johnson
Amelia Turner
💍 1898/2274

Widower
Widow

Telegraph Lineman
Nurse

66
41

Timaru
Timaru

20 years
8 years

Dwellinghouse of Bridegroom, William Street, Timaru

98/2557

7 June 1898

Rev. P. W. Jones, Primitive Methodist Minister; W. Gillies

No	33
Date of Notice	7 June 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Augustus Frederick Johnson	Amelia Turner
	💍 1898/2274
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Telegraph Lineman	Nurse
Age	66	41
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	20 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of Bridegroom, William Street, Timaru
Folio	98/2557
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 June 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. W. Jones, Primitive Methodist Minister; W. Gillies

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).