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 220

District of Wellington 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
207	30 June 1898	Robert Andrew Lee Jessie Summers Gray	Robert Andrew Lee Jessie Summers Gray 💍 1898/1512	Bachelor Spinster	French polisher	26 18	Wellington Wellington	1 year 10 months		98/1744	Mother, Margaret Keoble	1 July 1898	Rev. J. K. Elliott
208	2 July 1898	William McLean Davidson Mary Meyers	William Maclean Davidson Mary Meyers 💍 1898/2996	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	31 20	Napier Petone	5 years 2 years	Church of England, Petone	98/3063	Guardian, Alexander Angwa	2 July 1898	Rev. Jno. de la Russell
259	2 July 1898	Montague George Grenside Madeline Glenson Playle	Montague George Grenside Madeline Clarissa Playle 💍 1898/4274	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	32 22	Wellington Wellington	10 years 11 months	St. Peter's Church, Wellington	98/3651		2 July 1898	Rev. W. C. Waters
260	11 July 1898	Arthur Ernest Burt Florence Emma Draper	Arthur Ernest Burt Francis Emma Draper 💍 1898/3807	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	25 26	Wellington Wellington	9 years 17 months	House of Mr. Draper, 160 Taranaki St., Wellington	98/3032		11 July 1898	Rev. J. K. Elliott
261	11 July 1898	Samuel Ralph Farquhar Sarah Fleming	Samuel Ralph Farquhar Sarah Fleming 💍 1898/3808	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	31 22	Awatuna, Hawera Wellington	3 years 6 years	House of Rev. J. K. Elliott, Manse, Wellington	98/3033		11 July 1898	Rev. J. K. Elliott
262	11 July 1898	William Dudley Scatchard Lillian Cooper	John William Bradley Scutchard Lillian Cooper 💍 1898/3763	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier	24 17	Wellington Wellington	6 months 18 months	Registrar's Office	98/2984	Mother, Rose Robinson	11 July 1898	Registrar
263	14 July 1898	Charles Thomas Bell Roseanna Chambers	Charles Thomas Bell Roseanna Chambers 💍 1898/5088	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	25 27	Wellington Wellington	23 years 10 years	St. Thomas' Church, Wellington	98/4981		14 July 1898	Rev. O. Fitzgerald
264	15 July 1898	Walter Thomas Brundell Margaret Ella Harraway	Walter Thomas Brundell Margaret Mills Warren 💍 1898/3809	Bachelor Spinster	Piano Tuner	25 23	Dunedin Wellington	25 years 2 years	House of Rev. J. K. Elliott, Vallance, Wellington	98/3034		15 July 1898	Rev. J. K. Elliott
265	16 July 1898	David Mason Caroline Curry	David Mason Catherine Curry 💍 1898/2982	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	24 22	Hawera Wellington	18 months 22 years	Boulcott Street Church	98/3050		16 July 1898	Rev. Thos. De Noy
266	16 July 1898	Frederick James Bell Annie Corlett	Frederick James Bull Annie Corlet 💍 1898/3811	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	30 27	Wellington Johnsonville	30 years 21 years	House of Mr. Bell, 15 Vivian Street, Wellington	98/3017		16 July 1898	Rev. Chas. Dallaston

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).