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 618

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 30 June 1898 Registrar Charles Edmund Nicholas

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
11	16 April 1898	John Don Collins Elizabeth Caroline Wilson	John Orr Collins Elizabeth Caroline Wilson 💍 1898/1240	Bachelor Spinster	Mine manager	29 21	Whangarei Whangarei	6 months 3 years	at the residence of the Brides Parents Hukerenui	98/1463		16 April 1898	Rev. L. L. Cubitt
12	30 April 1898	Pahihitemaru Ihepera Ngawiki	Pahihiteumarea NR Ihapera Ngawiki 💍 1898/1262	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	33 31	Whananaki Whananaki	20 years 21 years	Office Registrar, Whangarei	98/1462	Natives	30 April 1898	The Registrar, Natives
13	26 April 1898	George Farrow Margaret McDonald	George Farrow Margaret Macdonald 💍 1898/1247	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	26 26	Kamo Kamo	20 years 20 years	residence of Wm Taylor, Kamo	98/1471		26 April 1898	Rev. G. Y. Roby
14	28 April 1898	Clement Elliott Elizabeth Sterling Donaldson	Clement Elliott Elizabeth Stirling Donaldson 💍 1898/1248	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	25 19	Whangarei Whangarei	20 years 14 years	residence brides Parents, Whangarei	98/1472	Robert Donaldson, Father	28 April 1898	Rev. G. Y. Roby
15	14 May 1898	Charles McCormick Alice Roose	Charles McCormick Alice Roose 💍 1898/1243	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 24	Tuhikaramea Maungatapere	4 months 24 years	residence brides Parents, Maungatapere	98/1467		14 May 1898	Rev. B. F. Rothwell
16	14 May 1898	Finlayson Smith Annie Georgina Jones	Finlayson Smith Annie Georgina Jones 💍 1898/1241	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 24	Whareora Whareora	28 years 24 years	residence bridegroom's Parents, Whareora	98/1464		14 May 1898	Rev. L. L. Cubitt
17	21 May 1898	John Anderson Annie Gunson	John Anderson Annie Gunson 💍 1898/1244	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 26	Maungakaramea Maungakaramea	22 years 26 years	residence brides Parents, Maungakaramea	98/1468		21 May 1898	Rev. B. F. Rothwell
18	23 May 1898	Robert Walton Anderson Christina Merrick	Robert Walton Anderson Christina Merrick 💍 1898/1245	Bachelor Spinster	Gumdigger	40 17	Hukerenui South Hukerenui South	10 years 12 years	residence of B. F. Rothwell, Whangarei	98/1469	C.D. Mitchell, Uncle	23 May 1898	Rev. B. F. Rothwell
19	4 June 1898	Christopher McGrath Alice Ann Dwyer	Christopher McGrath Alice Ann Dwyer 💍 1898/2706	Bachelor Spinster	Railway Depot	29 19	Whangarei Otaika	2 years 19 years	Roman Catholic Church, Whangarei	98/1466	John Dwyer, Father	4 June 1898	Rev. J. W. Smiers
20	11 June 1898	William George Edge Irena Robena Mabel Dent	William George Edge Irena Robena Mabel Dent 💍 1898/1249	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 21	Maunu Kaitara	22 years 21 years	residence brides Parents, Kaitara	98/1473		11 June 1898	Rev. J. H. Hawkes M.A.

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 1899. 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).