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 020

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1898 Registrar E. H. Lyons

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

106

28 February 1898

Francis James Lovegrove
Elizabeth Salisbury

Francis James Lovegrove
Elizabeth Salisbury
💍 1898/129

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

23
26

Auckland
Auckland

23 years
6 years

House of Mr. R. May, St. James Square

98/120

28 February 1898

Rev. R. F. Macnicol, Presbyterian

No	106
Date of Notice	28 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis James Lovegrove	Elizabeth Salisbury
	💍 1898/129
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	23	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	23 years	6 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. R. May, St. James Square
Folio	98/120
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. F. Macnicol, Presbyterian

107

28 February 1898

John Gillilan
Amelia Boyd

John Gillilan
Amelia Maria Boyd
💍 1898/2308

Widower
Spinster

Labourer

35
21

Auckland
Auckland

18 months
21 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

98/19

28 February 1898

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	107
Date of Notice	28 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Gillilan	Amelia Boyd
BDM Match (82%)	John Gillilan	Amelia Maria Boyd
	💍 1898/2308
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	35	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	18 months	21 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	98/19
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1898
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

108

1 March 1898

Michael Gleeson
Rizpah Selina Foley

Michael Gleeson
Rizpah Selina Foley
💍 1898/2310

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

25
23

Coromandel
Auckland

2 years
1 year

Registrar's Office, Auckland

98/20

1 March 1898

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	108
Date of Notice	1 March 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Gleeson	Rizpah Selina Foley
	💍 1898/2310
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Coromandel	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	98/20
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1898
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

109

2 March 1898

William Anson Reed
Annie Maria North

William Anson Reed
Annie Maria North
💍 1898/2311

Widower
Spinster

Corporal Permanent Artillery

45
31

Auckland
Auckland

10 years
5 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

98/21

2 March 1898

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	109
Date of Notice	2 March 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Anson Reed	Annie Maria North
	💍 1898/2311
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Corporal Permanent Artillery
Age	45	31
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	98/21
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1898
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

110

3 March 1898

Harry Williams
Annie Francies Kilfoyle

Harry Williams
Annie Francies Kilfoyle
💍 1898/2312

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman

23
22

Auckland
Auckland

1 month
1 month

Registrar's Office, Auckland

98/22

3 March 1898

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	110
Date of Notice	3 March 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Williams	Annie Francies Kilfoyle
	💍 1898/2312
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 month	1 month
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	98/22
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1898
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

111

4 March 1898

Alfred Henry Drew
Margaret Lockhart Pitkethley

Alfred Henry Drew
Margaret Flockhard Pitkethley
💍 1898/144

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

27
22

Auckland
Remuera

5 years
22 years

Presbyterian Church

98/159

4 March 1898

Rev. G. B. Monro, Presbyterian

No	111
Date of Notice	4 March 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Henry Drew	Margaret Lockhart Pitkethley
BDM Match (95%)	Alfred Henry Drew	Margaret Flockhard Pitkethley
	💍 1898/144
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Remuera
Length of Residence	5 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	98/159
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Monro, Presbyterian

112

4 March 1898

Percy Thomas Hunt
Millicent Rebecca Dowding

Percy Thomas Hunt
Millicent Rebecca Dowding
💍 1898/2313

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

20
20

Auckland
Auckland

20 years
20 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

98/23

Thomas Hunt, father; William Dowding, father

4 March 1898

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	112
Date of Notice	4 March 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Thomas Hunt	Millicent Rebecca Dowding
	💍 1898/2313
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	98/23
Consent	Thomas Hunt, father; William Dowding, father
Date of Certificate	4 March 1898
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, 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).