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 824

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 1898

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
257	3 June 1898	Thomas William Wood Charlotte Hall	Thomas William Wood Charlotte Hall 💍 1898/2237	Bachelor Spinster	Hauller Dressmaker	28 24	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 18 years	House of Mr. Archibald, 18 Willow St, Christchurch	98/2579		3 June 1898	Rev. J. Orchard, Wesleyan
258	4 June 1898	Thomas Byers Catherine Elizabeth Clements	Thomas Byers Catherine Elizabeth Clements 💍 1898/1781	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Milliner	24 18	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 3 months	House of Rev. R. Scott Allan	98/2027	Father	4 June 1898	Rev. R. Scott Allan, Presbyterian
259	4 June 1898	Ralph Beard Mary Anne Hughes	Ralph Beard May Ann Hughes 💍 1898/2160	Widower Spinster	Farmer	41 33	Christchurch Christchurch	1 week 17 years	Pro-Cathedral, Barbadoes St, Christchurch	98/2415		4 June 1898	Rev. H. Rafferty, Romanist
260	6 June 1898	Richard Jackson Hughes Martha Taylor	Richard Jackson Hughes Martha Taylor 💍 1898/1715 Robert Benson Martha Taylor 💍 1898/4618	Widower Widow	Carpenter Nurse	62 39	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 6 years	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	98/1958		6 June 1898	Registrar, J. J. Williamson
261	6 June 1898	John McDonald Robertson Constance Levina Mary Jimmons	John McDonald Robertson Constance Levina Mary Simmons 💍 1898/1782	Bachelor Spinster	Dyer	25 22	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 6 years	House of Mrs. Jimmons, 6 Yuan St, Christchurch	98/2028		6 June 1898	Rev. R. Scott Allan, Presbyterian
262	6 June 1898	Arthur James Bentley Lily Constance Williamson	Arthur James Bentley Lillie Constance Williamson 💍 1898/1819	Bachelor Spinster	Smith Tailoress	22 23	Linwood Linwood	9 months 7 years	House of Mr. Bentley, Hammond Road, Linwood	98/2048		6 June 1898	Rev. J. McNicol, Wesleyan
263	6 June 1898	Frederick Thomas Johnson Amy Charlotte Allpress	Frederick Thomas Johnson Amy Charlotte Allpress 💍 1898/1735	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	25 22	Christchurch Christchurch	25 years 4 years	St. Michael's Church, Christchurch	98/1978		6 June 1898	Rev. A. W. Averill, Church of England

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 1898. More registers will be added when the Archives NZ Wellington reading room re-opens in September 2025.

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).