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 231

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
31	25 January 1898	Townley Jackman Florence Edith Howard	Townley Jackman Florence Edith Howard 💍 1898/485	Bachelor Spinster	Dairyman	21 22	Wellington Wellington	8 years 6 years	House of Mr. Samuel Howard, No. 2 Stafford St., Wellington	98/530	25 January 1898	Rev. Charles Dallaston
32	26 January 1898	Thomas William Pilcher Edith Lily Littlewood	Thomas William Pilcher Edith Lily Littlewood 💍 1898/467	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	32 24	Wellington Wellington	32 years 3 years	St. Mark's Church, Wellington	98/512	26 January 1898	Rev. Richard Coffey
33	27 January 1898	Charles Horatio Morris Frances Marie Fendore	Charles Horatio Morris Frances Marie Vendore 💍 1898/540	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	42 22	Nelson Nelson	4 years 22 years	Congregational Church, Courtenay Place, Wellington	98/573	27 January 1898	Rev. William Simpson Fernie
34	27 January 1898	Peter Craig Brickley Clara Meedon	Peter Craig Brickley Clara Weedon 💍 1898/2667	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier	25 23	Wellington Wellington	3 years 3 years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	98/588	27 January 1898	F. W. Mansfield, Registrar
35	27 January 1898	Robert Butler Martha Earl	Robert Butler Martha Earl 💍 1898/533	Widower Widow	Farmer	55 40	Carterton Wellington	22 years 7 years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	98/589	27 January 1898	F. W. Mansfield, Registrar
36	31 January 1898	David Baselberg Sara Rothenberg	David Caselberg Sarah Rothenberg 💍 1898/512	Bachelor Spinster	Merchant	24 25	Masterton Wellington	22 years 23 years	Synagogue, Wellington	98/564	31 January 1898	A. Van Staveren
37	31 January 1898	Harry John Farmer Carry Kemp Easty	Harry John Farmer Carry Kemp Easby 💍 1898/1523	Bachelor Spinster	Warehouseman	21 22	Wellington Wellington	5 years 22 years	Herbert St. Hall, Wellington	98/1762	31 January 1898	Chas. Hillman, Minister
38	1 February 1898	John Mitchell Wilkie Barbara Ann Campbell	John Mitchell Wilkie Barbara Ann Campbell 💍 1898/468	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	35 37	Manutahi Nelson	10 years 30 years	St. Mark's Church, Wellington	98/513	1 February 1898	Rev. Richard Coffey
39	1 February 1898	Wilson Murphy Kate Eleanor Baker	Felix Murphy Kate Eleanor Baker 💍 1898/491	Bachelor Spinster	Confectioner	26 21	Wellington Wellington	4 years 20 years	St. Mary's of the Angels Church, Wellington	98/535	1 February 1898	Rev. John Ainsworth

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).