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 022

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1898 Registrar Thos. Culpan

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

120

10 March 1898

Thomas Fraser
Margaret Reid

Thomas Fraser
Margaret Reid
💍 1898/43

Bachelor
Spinster

Steward
Tailoress

27
27

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
10 days

Registrar's Office, Auckland

98/28

10 March 1898

Thos. Culpan, Dep. Registrar

No	120
Date of Notice	10 March 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Fraser	Margaret Reid
	💍 1898/43
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Steward	Tailoress
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	10 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	98/28
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1898
Officiating Minister	Thos. Culpan, Dep. Registrar

121

10 March 1898

Basil Digby Herdson
Marion Downie

Basil Digby Herdon
Marion Downie
💍 1898/44

Bachelor
Spinster

Tinsmith
Domestic duties

25
18

Auckland
Auckland

10 years
18 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

98/29

Margaret Downie, mother

10 March 1898

Thos. Culpan, Dep. Registrar

No	121
Date of Notice	10 March 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Basil Digby Herdson	Marion Downie
BDM Match (97%)	Basil Digby Herdon	Marion Downie
	💍 1898/44
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tinsmith	Domestic duties
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	98/29
Consent	Margaret Downie, mother
Date of Certificate	10 March 1898
Officiating Minister	Thos. Culpan, Dep. Registrar

122

11 March 1898

John Black
Sarah Ann Tippins

John Black
Sarah Ann Tippins
💍 1898/45

Widower
Widow

Boiler maker
Domestic duties

51
40

Auckland
Auckland

3 1/2 years
25 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

98/30

11 March 1898

Thos. Culpan, Dep. Registrar

No	122
Date of Notice	11 March 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Black	Sarah Ann Tippins
	💍 1898/45
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Boiler maker	Domestic duties
Age	51	40
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	98/30
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1898
Officiating Minister	Thos. Culpan, Dep. Registrar

123

12 March 1898

Albert John McLean
Mary Burnside Goodall

Albert John McLean
Mary Burnside Goodall
💍 1898/116

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

24
22

Auckland
Auckland

13 years
12 years

House of Father of Bride, Ireland Street, Auckland

98/128

12 March 1898

Rev. W. A. Sinclair, Wesleyan

No	123
Date of Notice	12 March 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert John McLean	Mary Burnside Goodall
	💍 1898/116
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	13 years	12 years
Marriage Place	House of Father of Bride, Ireland Street, Auckland
Folio	98/128
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Sinclair, Wesleyan

124

12 March 1898

Joel Stubbs
Margaret Eva Lovie

Joel Stubbs
Margaret Eva Lovie
💍 1898/46

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic duties

34
22

Dargaville
Auckland

12 months
22 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

98/31

12 March 1898

Thos. Culpan, Dep. Registrar

No	124
Date of Notice	12 March 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joel Stubbs	Margaret Eva Lovie
	💍 1898/46
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic duties
Age	34	22
Dwelling Place	Dargaville	Auckland
Length of Residence	12 months	22 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	98/31
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1898
Officiating Minister	Thos. Culpan, Dep. Registrar

125

12 March 1898

George Smith
Violet Milnes

George Smith
Violet Milnes
💍 1898/71

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Tailoress

22
21

Auckland
Auckland

5 months
8 months

House of Father of Bride, Rokeby Street, Auckland

98/56

12 March 1898

Rev. A. Peters, Wesleyan

No	125
Date of Notice	12 March 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Smith	Violet Milnes
	💍 1898/71
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Tailoress
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 months	8 months
Marriage Place	House of Father of Bride, Rokeby Street, Auckland
Folio	98/56
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Peters, Wesleyan

126

14 March 1898

Francis John McMahon
Ada May Smith

Francis John McMahon
Ada May Smith
💍 1898/47

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway employee
Domestic duties

23
17

Auckland
Auckland

7 years
4 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

98/32

Julia Ann Smith, mother

14 March 1898

Thos. Culpan, Dep. Registrar

No	126
Date of Notice	14 March 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis John McMahon	Ada May Smith
	💍 1898/47
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway employee	Domestic duties
Age	23	17
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	7 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	98/32
Consent	Julia Ann Smith, mother
Date of Certificate	14 March 1898
Officiating Minister	Thos. Culpan, Dep. Registrar

127

14 March 1898

John Arthur James
Lily Gertrude Martin

John Arthur James
Lily Gertrude Martin
💍 1898/131

Widower
Spinster

Gardener
Domestic duties

45
34

Auckland
Auckland

2 months
1 week

Salvation Army Barracks, Albert Street

98/138

14 March 1898

Staff Capt. John Bain

No	127
Date of Notice	14 March 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Arthur James	Lily Gertrude Martin
	💍 1898/131
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Domestic duties
Age	45	34
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 months	1 week
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Barracks, Albert Street
Folio	98/138
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1898
Officiating Minister	Staff Capt. John Bain

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).