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 222

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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
277	14 July 1898	James Wilcox Elizabeth Symons	James Wilcox Elizabeth Symons 💍 1898/3810	Bachelor Spinster	Expressman	33 27	Wellington Wellington	27 years 27 years	House of Mrs. E. Symons, Alma Lane, Wellington	98/3035	14 July 1898	Rev. J. K. Elliott
278	16 July 1898	William Andrew Symons Mary Alice Armstrong	William Andrews Seymour May Alice Armstrong 💍 1898/4276 William Andrew Wilson Margaret Ann Armstrong 💍 1899/5374	Bachelor Spinster	Attendant	37 28	Akaroa Akaroa	10 years 10 years	St. Peter's Church, Wellington	98/3653	16 July 1898	Rev. W. C. Waters
279	18 July 1898	Abel Kerr Annie Flora Roebuck	Abel Kerr Annie Flora Roebuck 💍 1898/4277	Bachelor Spinster	Coach driver	37 32	Masterton Masterton	14 years 3 years	St. Peter's Church, Wellington	98/3654	18 July 1898	Rev. W. C. Waters
280	18 July 1898	Arthur George Jones Isabell May Keil	Arthur George Jones Isabell Hoy Keil 💍 1898/2990	Bachelor Spinster	Roadmaker	24 25	Petone Petone	1 year 1 year	Home of Mr. Geo. Jones, Hutt Road, Petone	98/3058	18 July 1898	Rev. Job Benning
281	18 July 1898	James Wright Margaret Kathleen Chune	James Wright Margaret Kathleen Clune 💍 1898/2984	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinetmaker	26 21	Wellington Waikato	21 years 21 years	St. Mary's of the Angels, Boulcott St., Wellington	98/3052	18 July 1898	Rev. Thos. DeVoy
282	18 July 1898	Frederick Robert James Cunningham Bertha Mary Louise Roberts	Frederick Robert James Cunningham Bertha Amy Louise Roberts 💍 1898/3766	Bachelor Spinster	Traveller	28 21	Auckland Wellington	9 years 10 years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	98/2987	18 July 1898	Registrar
283	18 July 1898	Kenneth Barber Mabel Georgina Bowen	Kenneth Barber Mabel Georgina Bowen 💍 1898/3819	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	24 22	Petone Petone	23 years 22 years	House of Mr. Bowen, 21 Shell Street, Petone	98/3022	18 July 1898	Rev. Alex Thomson
284	18 July 1898	Hector Edward Gardner Katie Adele Hardwick	Hector Edward Gardner Katie Adele Hardwick 💍 1898/4114	Bachelor Spinster	Sawmiller	21 21	Aukanni Wellington	2 years 6 years	St. Mark's Church, Wellington	98/3560	18 July 1898	Rev. R. Coffey
285	18 July 1898	Stephen Charles Gordon Swiney Emma Havill	Stephen Charles Gandar Swiney Emma Havill 💍 1898/3767	Bachelor Spinster	Master Butcher	26 26	Wellington Wellington	26 years 18 months	Registrar's Office, Wellington	98/2988	18 July 1898	Registrar
286	20 July 1898	Joseph Alfred Sutton Mary Agnes Bonfords	Joseph Alfred Sutton Mary Agnes Bonford 💍 1898/3004	Bachelor Spinster	Fitter	26 25	Wellington Wellington	3 years 5 months	House of Mrs. Shilton, Island Bay	98/3048	20 July 1898	Rev. A. C. Lawry

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).