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 012

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

27 January 1898

Walter Harris
Sarah Jane Chambers

Walter Harris
Sarah Jane Chambers
💍 1898/77

Widower
Spinster

Clergyman

49
38

Westport
Auckland

10 months
20 years

House of Mr. John Chambers, Sheridan Street, Auckland

98/87

27 January 1898

Rev. L. P. Ward, Primitive Methodist

No	50
Date of Notice	27 January 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Harris	Sarah Jane Chambers
	💍 1898/77
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Clergyman
Age	49	38
Dwelling Place	Westport	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 months	20 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. John Chambers, Sheridan Street, Auckland
Folio	98/87
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. P. Ward, Primitive Methodist

28 January 1898

George Peters
Mary Hunter

George Peters
Mary Hunter
💍 1898/2299

George Oakley
Mary Jean Hunter
💍 1898/1866

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

32
21

Auckland
Auckland

32 years
21 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

98/10

28 January 1898

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	51
Date of Notice	28 January 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Peters	Mary Hunter
	💍 1898/2299
BDM Match (61%)	George Oakley	Mary Jean Hunter
	💍 1898/1866
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	32 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	98/10
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1898
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

28 January 1898

Thomas Henry Tidd
Annie Elizabeth Petty

Thomas Henry Tidd
Annie Elizabeth Petty
💍 1898/115

Bachelor
Spinster

Letter carrier

25
27

Auckland
Auckland

6 months
14 years

House of Father of Bride, Surrey Street, Great North Road

98/127

28 January 1898

Rev. H. A. Sinclair, Wesleyan

No	52
Date of Notice	28 January 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Tidd	Annie Elizabeth Petty
	💍 1898/115
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Letter carrier
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	6 months	14 years
Marriage Place	House of Father of Bride, Surrey Street, Great North Road
Folio	98/127
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. A. Sinclair, Wesleyan

28 January 1898

Walter Thomas Smith
Maria Adelaide Stone

Walter Thomas Smith
Maria Adelaide Stone
💍 1898/132

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinet maker

30
24

Auckland
Auckland

6 years
12 years

Wesleyan Church, Newmarket

98/148

28 January 1898

Rev. A. Mitchell, Wesleyan

No	53
Date of Notice	28 January 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Thomas Smith	Maria Adelaide Stone
	💍 1898/132
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinet maker
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	6 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Newmarket
Folio	98/148
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Mitchell, Wesleyan

31 January 1898

Richard Williams
Annie McKenzie

Richard Williams
Annie Euphemia McKenzie
💍 1898/2300

John Clark
Annie McKenzie
💍 1899/1251

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

28
22

Ohinemuri
Maraetai

7 months
12 months

Registrar's Office, Auckland

98/11

31 January 1898

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	54
Date of Notice	31 January 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Williams	Annie McKenzie
BDM Match (80%)	Richard Williams	Annie Euphemia McKenzie
	💍 1898/2300
BDM Match (63%)	John Clark	Annie McKenzie
	💍 1899/1251
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Ohinemuri	Maraetai
Length of Residence	7 months	12 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	98/11
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1898
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

31 January 1898

William Wakefield McLeod
Annie Eliza Hart

William Wakefield McLeod
Annie Eliza Hart
💍 1898/118

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
17

Auckland
Auckland

12 years
17 years

All Saints' Church, Ponsonby

98/130

Mary Louisa Hart, Mother

31 January 1898

Rev. H. Calder, Church of England

No	55
Date of Notice	31 January 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Wakefield McLeod	Annie Eliza Hart
	💍 1898/118
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	17
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	12 years	17 years
Marriage Place	All Saints' Church, Ponsonby
Folio	98/130
Consent	Mary Louisa Hart, Mother
Date of Certificate	31 January 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Calder, Church of England

1 February 1898

Michael Walter Delaney
Ophelia Teresa Potoky

Michael Walter Delaney
Ophelia Teresa Potoky
💍 1898/2301

Bachelor
Spinster

Trainer

43
32

Auckland
Auckland

10 years
15 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

98/12

1 February 1898

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	56
Date of Notice	1 February 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Walter Delaney	Ophelia Teresa Potoky
	💍 1898/2301
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Trainer
Age	43	32
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	98/12
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 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 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).