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 385

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1898 Registrar M. J. Hall Regs

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

19 January 1898

John Boughlan
Catherine Barrett

John Coughlan
Catherine Barrett
💍 1898/844

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23
23

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In St. Joseph's Cathedral

98/985

19 January 1898

Revd P. Murphy, Roman Catholic Priest

No	8
Date of Notice	19 January 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Boughlan	Catherine Barrett
BDM Match (96%)	John Coughlan	Catherine Barrett
	💍 1898/844
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In St. Joseph's Cathedral
Folio	98/985
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1898
Officiating Minister	Revd P. Murphy, Roman Catholic Priest

19 January 1898

John Matheson
Jeanie Cameron

John Matheson
Jeanie Cameron
💍 1898/808

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

27
27

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
15 years

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages

98/956

19 January 1898

M. J. Hall, Registrar of Marriages

No	9
Date of Notice	19 January 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Matheson	Jeanie Cameron
	💍 1898/808
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	15 years
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	98/956
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1898
Officiating Minister	M. J. Hall, Registrar of Marriages

19 January 1898

Frederick Joseph Heatley
Ethel Mary Dutton

Frederick Joseph Heatley
Ethel Mary Dutton
💍 1898/820

Bachelor
Spinster

Teacher

27
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

16 years
15 years

In St. Paul's Cathedral

98/975

19 January 1898

Revd C. G. Robinson, Church of England Minister

No	10
Date of Notice	19 January 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Joseph Heatley	Ethel Mary Dutton
	💍 1898/820
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teacher
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	16 years	15 years
Marriage Place	In St. Paul's Cathedral
Folio	98/975
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1898
Officiating Minister	Revd C. G. Robinson, Church of England Minister

20 January 1898

Thomas Cunningham
Agnes Davies

Thomas Cunningham
Agnes Davies
💍 1898/819

Bachelor
Spinster

Machinist

28
24

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 years
8 years

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages

98/957

20 January 1898

M. J. Hall, Registrar of Marriages

No	11
Date of Notice	20 January 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Cunningham	Agnes Davies
	💍 1898/819
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Machinist
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 years	8 years
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	98/957
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1898
Officiating Minister	M. J. Hall, Registrar of Marriages

22 January 1898

Arthur Wade
Lettie Beatrice Georgina Hogan

Arthur Wade
Lettie Beatrice Georgina Hogan
💍 1898/826

Bachelor
Spinster

Agent

27
20

Dunedin
Dunedin

7 months
1 year

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages

98/958

Hogan, father of minor

22 January 1898

M. J. Hall, Registrar of Marriages

No	12
Date of Notice	22 January 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Wade	Lettie Beatrice Georgina Hogan
	💍 1898/826
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Agent
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	7 months	1 year
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	98/958
Consent	Hogan, father of minor
Date of Certificate	22 January 1898
Officiating Minister	M. J. Hall, Registrar of Marriages

24 January 1898

John McNaught Junr.
Louisa Rees

John McNaught
Louisa Rees
💍 1898/868

Bachelor
Spinster

Wool Classer

29
25

Roslyn
Dunedin

23 years
1 year

In the First Church

98/1003

24 January 1898

Revd James Gibb, Presbyterian Minister

No	13
Date of Notice	24 January 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McNaught Junr.	Louisa Rees
BDM Match (84%)	John McNaught	Louisa Rees
	💍 1898/868
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wool Classer
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Roslyn	Dunedin
Length of Residence	23 years	1 year
Marriage Place	In the First Church
Folio	98/1003
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1898
Officiating Minister	Revd James Gibb, Presbyterian Minister

25 January 1898

Henry John Hill Knowles
Mary Ann Kellow Treloever

Henry John Hill Knowles
Mary Ann Kellen Trelower
💍 1898/838

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

39
35

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In Knox Church

98/996

25 January 1898

Revd T. Hewitson, Presbyterian Minister

No	14
Date of Notice	25 January 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry John Hill Knowles	Mary Ann Kellow Treloever
BDM Match (92%)	Henry John Hill Knowles	Mary Ann Kellen Trelower
	💍 1898/838
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	39	35
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In Knox Church
Folio	98/996
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1898
Officiating Minister	Revd T. Hewitson, Presbyterian Minister

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).