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 736

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
141	6 April 1898	Edward Jarneghausen Julia Barreth	Edward Sarnighausen Julia Barret 💍 1898/2110	Bachelor Widow	Farmer	48 43	Weber Survey District H.B. Weber Survey District H.B.	9 years 12 months	Boulcott St Church, Wellington			6 April 1898	Revd John Ainsworth
142	6 April 1898	Alfred William Whitehouse Adaline Helena Greer	Alfred William Whitehouse Adaline Helena Greer 💍 1898/1483	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 24	Porirua Tawa Flat	23 years 24 years	Registrar's Office	98/1720		6 April 1898	J. M. Mansfield, Registrar
143	6 April 1898	Frederick Hill Rose Gillies	Frederick Hill Rose Gillies 💍 1898/1546	Bachelor Spinster	Machinist	24 18	Wellington Willoughby, Sydney	24 years 6 months	House of Mr. Hill, 20 Theobald's Sheet, Wellington	98/1786	Peter Gillies, Father	6 April 1898	Revd Wm. Bannister
144	6 April 1898	George Chamness Ellen Sophia Outtrim	George Chamness Ellen Sophia Outtrim 💍 1898/1558	Bachelor Spinster	Restaurant Keeper	34 19	Wellington Wellington	16 years 19 years	St. Mary's of the Angels Church, Wellington	98/1774		6 April 1898	Revd Thomas Deboy
145	7 April 1898	John Motley Leigh Emma Elizabeth Webb	John Motley Leigh Emma Elizabeth Webb 💍 1898/1575	Bachelor Spinster	Sheepfarmer	43 37	Palmerston North Brighton, Melbourne	3 1/2 years 37 years	St. Augustine Church, Petone	98/1814		7 April 1898	Revd John Le Fevre CC
146	7 April 1898	Francis Frederick Shalders Eleanor Mary Porter	Francis Frederick Shalders Eleanor Mary Porter 💍 1898/1521	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	30 31	Wellington Wellington	10 years 20 years	St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington	98/1751		7 April 1898	Revd J. H. Sprott
147	7 April 1898	Alexander Milne Mary McEntee	Alexander Milne Mary McEntee 💍 1898/1506	Widower Widow	Blacksmith	43 44	Wellington Wellington	25 years 23 years	House of Mr. Housmann, 11 Seat Thirston Terrace, Wellington	98/1744		7 April 1898	Revd J. K. Elliott
148	7 April 1898	Robert Edward Hayes Ellen Thomas	Robert Edward Hayes Ellen Thomas 💍 1898/1526	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	29 21	Wellington Wellington	9 years 12 years	St. Mark's Church, Wellington	98/1766		7 April 1898	Revd R. Coffey
149	7 April 1898	John Jamieson Hannah Maria Petersen	John Jamieson Hanna Maria Petersen 💍 1898/1484	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	29 23	Wellington Wellington	7 years 23 years	Registrar's Office	98/1721		7 April 1898	J. M. Mansfield, Registrar
150	12 April 1898	William Mander Flora McLean	William Mander Flora McLean 💍 1898/1508	Widower Spinster	Engineer	46 39	Christchurch Wellington	2 years 9 years	House of Donald McLean, 12 Hawker Street, Wellington	98/1745		12 April 1898	Revd J. R. Elliott

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).