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 235

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1898 Registrar Frederick William Mansfield

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

9 February 1898

Thomas Trenewan
Maria Moseled

Thomas Tremewan
Maria Mexted
💍 1898/558

Widower
Spinster

Farmer

59
37

Tawa Flat
Tawa Flat

19 years
37 years

Registrars Office, Wellington

98/595

9 February 1898

F. W. Mansfield, Registrar

No	61
Date of Notice	9 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Trenewan	Maria Moseled
BDM Match (81%)	Thomas Tremewan	Maria Mexted
	💍 1898/558
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	59	37
Dwelling Place	Tawa Flat	Tawa Flat
Length of Residence	19 years	37 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Wellington
Folio	98/595
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1898
Officiating Minister	F. W. Mansfield, Registrar

9 February 1898

Thomas James Longhurst
Kate Barnes

Thomas James Longhurst
Kate Barnes
💍 1898/559

Bachelor
Spinster

Postmaster

26
19

Makara
Makara

26 years

Registrars Office, Wellington

98/596

Mary Barnes, mother

9 February 1898

F. W. Mansfield, Registrar

No	62
Date of Notice	9 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas James Longhurst	Kate Barnes
	💍 1898/559
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postmaster
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Makara	Makara
Length of Residence	26 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Wellington
Folio	98/596
Consent	Mary Barnes, mother
Date of Certificate	9 February 1898
Officiating Minister	F. W. Mansfield, Registrar

9 February 1898

William John Burch
Julia Christina Chapman

William John Burch
Julia Christina Chapman
💍 1898/473

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

22
19

Wellington
Wellington

20 years
10 years

Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church

98/502

Margaret Chapman, mother

10 February 1898

Rev. J. H. Elliott

No	63
Date of Notice	9 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Burch	Julia Christina Chapman
	💍 1898/473
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church
Folio	98/502
Consent	Margaret Chapman, mother
Date of Certificate	10 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Elliott

14 February 1898

Robert Ellis Wood
Nellie Elizabeth Heywood

Robert Ellis Wood
Nellie Elizabeth Haywood
💍 1898/516

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

31
25

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
20 years

St. Pauls Pro-Cathedral, Wellington

98/548

14 February 1898

Rev. T. H. Sprott

No	64
Date of Notice	14 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Ellis Wood	Nellie Elizabeth Heywood
BDM Match (98%)	Robert Ellis Wood	Nellie Elizabeth Haywood
	💍 1898/516
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Pro-Cathedral, Wellington
Folio	98/548
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. H. Sprott

14 February 1898

Andrew Bell Philp
Maria Elizabeth Ann Topp

Andrew Bell Philp
Maria Elizabeth Ann Topp
💍 1898/477

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor

34
31

Kilbirnie
Wellington

18 months
25 years

St. Marks Church

98/514

14 February 1898

Rev. Richard Coffey

No	65
Date of Notice	14 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Bell Philp	Maria Elizabeth Ann Topp
	💍 1898/477
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor
Age	34	31
Dwelling Place	Kilbirnie	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 months	25 years
Marriage Place	St. Marks Church
Folio	98/514
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. Richard Coffey

14 February 1898

John Purdie Smith
Laura West

John Purdie Smith
Laura West
💍 1898/474

Bachelor
Spinster

Bicycle Mechanic

25
26

Wellington
Dunedin

4 months
26 years

Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church

98/503

21 February 1898

Rev. J. H. Elliott

No	66
Date of Notice	14 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Purdie Smith	Laura West
	💍 1898/474
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bicycle Mechanic
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 months	26 years
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church
Folio	98/503
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Elliott

15 February 1898

Francis McLaughlin
Annie King

Francis McLaughlin
Annie King
💍 1898/475

Bachelor
Spinster

Perambulator Maker

22
19

Wellington
Wellington

22 years
4 years

The private residence of F. W. Henry McLaughlin, 39 Kent Terrace, Wellington

98/504

Annie King, mother

15 February 1898

Rev. William Simpson, Fernie

No	67
Date of Notice	15 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis McLaughlin	Annie King
	💍 1898/475
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Perambulator Maker
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	22 years	4 years
Marriage Place	The private residence of F. W. Henry McLaughlin, 39 Kent Terrace, Wellington
Folio	98/504
Consent	Annie King, mother
Date of Certificate	15 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Simpson, Fernie

15 February 1898

Henry Robert Page
Margaret McCormack

Henry Robert Page
Margaret McCormack
💍 1898/541

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor

26
23

Wellington
Wellington

20 years
5 years

Congregational Church, Courtenay Place

98/574

No	68
Date of Notice	15 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Robert Page	Margaret McCormack
	💍 1898/541
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Courtenay Place
Folio	98/574
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating 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 1908. 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).