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 007

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1898

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

12 January 1898

Abel James McNeil Moore
Margaret Healy

Abel James McNeil Moore
Magaret Healy
💍 1898/151

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairyman

23
19

Onehunga
Onehunga

4 years
19 years

Wesleyan Church

98/143

Eliza Healy, Mother

12 January 1898

Rev. S. Lawry, Wesleyan

No	22
Date of Notice	12 January 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Abel James McNeil Moore	Margaret Healy
BDM Match (96%)	Abel James McNeil Moore	Magaret Healy
	💍 1898/151
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairyman
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Onehunga	Onehunga
Length of Residence	4 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church
Folio	98/143
Consent	Eliza Healy, Mother
Date of Certificate	12 January 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Lawry, Wesleyan

12 January 1898

Charles Anthony Ponsford
Ellen Georgiana Lusher

Charles Anthony Ponsford
Ellen Georgina Lusher
💍 1898/117

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

27
26

Auckland
Auckland

12 years
26 years

All Saints' Church

98/129

12 January 1898

Rev. H. Calder, Church of England

No	23
Date of Notice	12 January 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Anthony Ponsford	Ellen Georgiana Lusher
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Anthony Ponsford	Ellen Georgina Lusher
	💍 1898/117
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	12 years	26 years
Marriage Place	All Saints' Church
Folio	98/129
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Calder, Church of England

13 January 1898

Henry Lewis Bright Bertrand
Mary Gibson

Henry Louis Bright Bertrand
Mary Gibson
💍 1898/107

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

32
26

Auckland
Auckland

1 year
3 months

St. Matthew's Church

98/109

13 January 1898

Rev. L. Fitz Gerald

No	24
Date of Notice	13 January 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Lewis Bright Bertrand	Mary Gibson
BDM Match (96%)	Henry Louis Bright Bertrand	Mary Gibson
	💍 1898/107
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 year	3 months
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church
Folio	98/109
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. Fitz Gerald

13 January 1898

John Alexander Muir
Mary Catherine Lloyd

John Alexander Muir
Mary Ann Lloyd
💍 1898/152

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer

28
34

Onehunga
Onehunga

25 years
20 years

Wesleyan Church

98/144

13 January 1898

Rev. S. Lawry, Wesleyan

No	25
Date of Notice	13 January 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alexander Muir	Mary Catherine Lloyd
BDM Match (80%)	John Alexander Muir	Mary Ann Lloyd
	💍 1898/152
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer
Age	28	34
Dwelling Place	Onehunga	Onehunga
Length of Residence	25 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church
Folio	98/144
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Lawry, Wesleyan

15 January 1898

Thomas Henry Townsend
Emma Amelia Blewden

Thomas Henry Townsend
Emma Amelia Blewden
💍 1898/122

Bachelor
Spinster

Miller

38
26

Auckland
Auckland

5 years
26 years

House of Mr. G. Aldridge, Mount Eden

98/133

15 January 1898

Mr. G. Aldridge, Church of Christ

No	26
Date of Notice	15 January 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Townsend	Emma Amelia Blewden
	💍 1898/122
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miller
Age	38	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years	26 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. G. Aldridge, Mount Eden
Folio	98/133
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1898
Officiating Minister	Mr. G. Aldridge, Church of Christ

17 January 1898

David George McDougall
Ellen Cleary

David George McDougall
Ellen Cleary
💍 1898/104

Bachelor
Spinster

Jockey

23
25

Auckland
Auckland

12 years
25 years

Roman Catholic Church

98/106

17 January 1898

Very Rev. W. McDonald, Roman Catholic

No	27
Date of Notice	17 January 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David George McDougall	Ellen Cleary
	💍 1898/104
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jockey
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	12 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	98/106
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1898
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. W. McDonald, Roman Catholic

17 January 1898

Louis Chumun
Mary Elizabeth Phillips

Louis Chumun
Mary Elizabeth Phillips
💍 1898/125

Bachelor
Spinster

Cork

30
29

Auckland
Auckland

1 year
2 years

St. James' Church

98/116

17 January 1898

Rev. R. F. Macnicol, Church of England

No	28
Date of Notice	17 January 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Louis Chumun	Mary Elizabeth Phillips
	💍 1898/125
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cork
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 year	2 years
Marriage Place	St. James' Church
Folio	98/116
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. F. Macnicol, Church of England

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).