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 747

District of Wellington 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
212	30 May 1898	William Hurrell May Edith Maslen	William Hurrell May Edith Maslen 💍 1898/1581	Bachelor Spinster	Carriage Painter	23 21	Wellington Wellington	9 yrs 21 yrs	House of Mr. Hurrell, Crawford Street, Wellington	98/1079		30 May 1898	Revd Chas Dallaston
213	30 May 1898	George Russell Amy Thompson Bowring Turnbull	George Russell Amy Thompson Bowling Turnbull 💍 1898/1586	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 28	Pahiatua Greymouth	8 mos 11 yrs	House of Mr. Harle, 56 Cuba Street, Wellington	98/1802		30 May 1898	Revd Mr. Shirer
214	30 May 1898	William George Goss Elizabeth Sarah Collett	William George Goss Elizabeth Sarah Collett 💍 1898/1528	Widower Spinster	Engineer	34 29	Wellington Mungaroa	24 yrs 21 yrs	St. Marks Church, Wellington	98/1768		30 May 1898	Revd Richd Coffey
215	30 May 1898	Albert George Collett Emily Mary Smith	Albert George Collett Mary Emily Smith 💍 1898/1529	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	24 26	Mungaroa Wellington	21 yrs 22 yrs	St. Marks Church, Wellington	98/1769		30 May 1898	Revd Richd Coffey
216	31 May 1898	William John Spencer Florence Ruth Clarke	William John Spencer Florence Ruth Clarke 💍 1898/1518	Bachelor Spinster	Potter	20 19	Wellington Wellington	20 yrs 19 yrs	Registrar's Office, Wellington	98/1732	Mr. James Spencer, father; George Clarke, father	31 May 1898	F. W. Mansfield, Registrar
217	3 June 1898	William Benton Eliza Annie Hall	William Benton Eliza Annie Hall 💍 1898/1533	Widower Spinster	Builder	44 37	Featherston Featherston	41 yrs 3 yrs	St. Paul's Cathedral, Wellington	98/1705		3 June 1898	Revd J. H. Sprott
218	3 June 1898	William Johnson Louisa Twyman James	William Johnson Louisa Twyman James 💍 1898/1550	Widower Widow	Builder	38 34	Wellington Wellington	7 yrs 34 yrs	House of Mr. Hook, Allen Street, Wellington	98/1789		3 June 1898	Revd Wm Baumber
219	4 June 1898	James Hugh Jameson Fanny Alexandra Christmas Wheeler Thradsen	James Hugh Cameron Fanny Alexander Christina Wheeler Ahradsen 💍 1898/1538	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 22	Te Kuiti, Wairarapa Wellington	10 yrs 22 yrs	St. Marks Church, Wellington	98/1770		4 June 1898	Revd R. Coffey
220	6 June 1898	Henry Newson Mary Ann Sophia Nixon	Henry Newson Mary Ann Sophia Nixon 💍 1898/1519	Widower Widow	Labourer	56 50	Manakau Wellington	8 yrs 18 yrs	Registrar's Office, Wellington	98/1733		8 June 1898	F. W. Mansfield, Registrar
221	6 June 1898	Edgar James Mills Ellen Griffiths Griffiths	Edgar James Mills Ellen Griffiths 💍 1898/1549	Bachelor Spinster	Mercer	26 22	Wellington Christchurch	17 yrs 14 yrs	St. Marks Church, Wellington	98/1771		6 June 1898	Revd R. Coffey

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 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).