Intentions to Marry, 1898 July-December

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840414, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, June 27 2025

1898 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 023

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 September 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	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
498	14 September 1898	Samuel McPherson Helena May Watson	Samuel McPherson Helena May Watson 💍 1898/4118	Bachelor Spinster	Hotel keeper	25 21	Auckland Auckland	25 years 21 years	Epiphany Church, Newton	98/3541		14 September 1898	Rev. W. E. Lush, Church of England
499	15 September 1898	Charles Pollard Ada Elizabeth Beacham	Charles Pollard Ada Elizabeth Beacham 💍 1898/4295	Bachelor Spinster	Plasterer Brushmaker	22 19	Auckland Auckland	22 years 15 years	Congregational Church, Newton	98/3826	Ruben Beacham, father	15 September 1898	Rev. F. Warner, Congregationalist
500	15 September 1898	Tobias Harrison Susan Matthews	Tobias Harrison Susan Mathews 💍 1898/2892	Divorced (15 June 1898) Widow	Boot maker	55 48	Auckland Auckland	20 years 12 years	Registrar's Office, Auckland	98/2645		15 September 1898	J. Culpan, Deputy Registrar
501	16 September 1898	Cecil Edwin Rowe de Smidt Lucy Thurnot	Seysil Elwin Rowe de Smidt Lucy Thunot 💍 1898/2893	Bachelor Widow	Planter	34 35	Tahiti Tahiti	18 months 18 years	Registrar's Office, Auckland	98/2646		16 September 1898	J. Culpan, Deputy Registrar
502	16 September 1898	Charles Wright Mary Gilley	Charles Wright Mary Gilley 💍 1898/2894	Widower Widow	Shoemaker	54 51	Hikurangi Hikurangi	14 years 1 month	Registrar's Office, Auckland	98/2647		16 September 1898	J. Culpan, Deputy Registrar
503	16 September 1898	Samuel McQuay Marion Aitkenhead	Samuel McQuay Marion Aitkenhead 💍 1898/2896	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	27 28	Mangere Mangere	20 years 10 years	Registrar's Office, Auckland	98/2648		16 September 1898	J. Culpan, Deputy Registrar
504	16 September 1898	Spencer Williams Von Stürmer Peterea Jane Maddine Kable	Spencer William Von Sturmer Rebecca Jane Madeline Kable 💍 1898/3791	Widower Spinster	Gentleman	62 29	Auckland Auckland	40 years 6 days	St. Mary's Cathedral, Parnell, Auckland	98/2676		16 September 1898	Rev. G. MacMurray, Church of England
505	16 September 1898	Walter John Queree Gretta Tarbutt	Walter John Queree Gretta Tarbutt 💍 1898/2897	Bachelor Spinster	Salesman	26 23	Auckland Auckland	14 years 23 years	Registrar's Office, Auckland	98/2649		16 September 1898	J. Culpan, Deputy 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 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).