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 422

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1898 Registrar William Alfred Smith Willcox

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 January 1898

Francis Loftus
Alice Daley

Francis Loftus
Alice Daly
💍 1898/915

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

29
20

Woodlands
Woodlands

7 years
18 months

St. Mary's Church, Clyde Street, Invercargill

98/1072

Daniel Daley, father

25 January 1898

Rev. Wm. Burke

No	7
Date of Notice	25 January 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Loftus	Alice Daley
BDM Match (95%)	Francis Loftus	Alice Daly
	💍 1898/915
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Woodlands	Woodlands
Length of Residence	7 years	18 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Clyde Street, Invercargill
Folio	98/1072
Consent	Daniel Daley, father
Date of Certificate	25 January 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Burke

25 January 1898

Thomas Baker
Hamora Kane

Thomas Baker
Hannora Kane
💍 1898/926

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

6 days
1 month

St. Mary's Church, Clyde Street

98/1073

25 January 1898

Rev. Wm. Burke

No	8
Date of Notice	25 January 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Baker	Hamora Kane
BDM Match (92%)	Thomas Baker	Hannora Kane
	💍 1898/926
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	6 days	1 month
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Clyde Street
Folio	98/1073
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Burke

31 January 1898

Eustace Ford
Every Fitzgerald

Martin Ford
Mary Fitzgerald
💍 1898/929

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

27
26

Richmond Grove
Dryross Bush

27 years
26 years

St. Mary's Church, Clyde Street, Invercargill

98/1074

31 January 1898

Rev. Wm. Burke

No	9
Date of Notice	31 January 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eustace Ford	Every Fitzgerald
BDM Match (66%)	Martin Ford	Mary Fitzgerald
	💍 1898/929
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Richmond Grove	Dryross Bush
Length of Residence	27 years	26 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Clyde Street, Invercargill
Folio	98/1074
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Burke

5 February 1898

John Robertson
Janet Cunningham Gardner

John Robertson
Janet Gardner Cunningham Double
💍 1898/918

John Robertson
Eva Christmas Smith
💍 1898/4612

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

28
23

Invercargill
Invercargill

28 years
12 years

House of Mr. Robert Double, Gala Street

98/1085

5 February 1898

Rev. J. Guy

No	10
Date of Notice	5 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Robertson	Janet Cunningham Gardner
BDM Match (77%)	John Robertson	Janet Gardner Cunningham Double
	💍 1898/918
BDM Match (60%)	John Robertson	Eva Christmas Smith
	💍 1898/4612
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	28 years	12 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Robert Double, Gala Street
Folio	98/1085
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Guy

8 February 1898

Richard Collinson
Ada Ethel Stuck

Richard Collinson
Ada Ethel Stuck
💍 1898/916

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawyer

25
22

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
3 days

St. John's Church, Tay Street

98/1082

8 February 1898

Dean Archdeacon Stocker

No	11
Date of Notice	8 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Collinson	Ada Ethel Stuck
	💍 1898/916
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawyer
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Tay Street
Folio	98/1082
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Dean Archdeacon Stocker

10 February 1898

Henry Zealand Dale
Mary Goodwin Kingland

Henry Zealand Dale
Mary Goodwin Kingsland
💍 1898/901

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

22
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
3 days

Office of the Registrar

98/1066

10 February 1898

J. L. Bush, Registrar

No	12
Date of Notice	10 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Zealand Dale	Mary Goodwin Kingland
BDM Match (98%)	Henry Zealand Dale	Mary Goodwin Kingsland
	💍 1898/901
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar
Folio	98/1066
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1898
Officiating Minister	J. L. Bush, Registrar

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 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).