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 239

District of Wairau 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
27	2 July 1898	Richard William McIsaac Catherine France	Richard William McIsaac Catherine France 💍 1898/3833	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	32 32	Renwicktown Renwick	4 years 3 years	House of Mr. J. Goff, Renwicktown	98/3083		2 July 1898	Rev. W. D. Safsan
28	16 July 1898	George Richmond Tovey Constance Edith Sowman	George Richmond Torey Constance Edith Sowman 💍 1898/3911	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	28 24	Blenheim Blenheim	2 years 24 years	House of Mr. W. Sowman, Blenheim	98/3090		16 July 1898	Rev. J. S. Grace
29	21 July 1898	John Gribbly Josephine Maud Hewett	John Gully Josephine Maud Hewitt 💍 1898/3922	Bachelor Spinster	Commercial Traveller	23 22	Blenheim Blenheim	3 days 22 years	Church of the Nativity, Blenheim	98/3091		21 July 1898	Rev. J. S. Grace
30	1 August 1898	Oswald George Avery Mary Jane Bishell	Oswald George Avery Mary Jane Bishell 💍 1898/3839	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 24	Fairhall Fairhall	3 days 20 years	House of Mr. D. Bishell, Fairhall	98/3088		1 August 1898	Rev. Wm. Keall
31	2 August 1898	Mark Adams Mary Brooks	Mark Adams Mary Elizabeth Brooks 💍 1898/3929	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 21	Grovetown Renwicktown	25 years 4 years	Church of England, Renwicktown	98/3092		2 August 1898	Rev. J. S. Grace
32	12 August 1898	Arthur James Robinson Elizabeth Agnes Wilkins	Arthur James Robinson Elizabeth Agnes Wilkins 💍 1898/3830	Bachelor Spinster	Ironmonger	31 20	Blenheim Spring Creek	31 years 20 years	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim	98/3080	F. M. Sheridan, mother	12 August 1898	W. J. Hawley, Registrar
33	16 August 1898	James Jacques Amy Horth	James Jacques Amy North 💍 1898/3931	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	29 29	Kaituna Kaituna	7 days 20 years	English Church, Okaramio	98/3094		16 August 1898	Rev. E. Ensor
34	17 August 1898	George Edward Sadd Elizabeth Ohlson	George Edward Sadd Elizabeth Ohlson 💍 1898/3831	Bachelor Widow	Farmer	31 45	Grovetown Grovetown	31 years 30 years	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim	98/3081		17 August 1898	W. J. Hawley, Registrar
35	19 August 1898	James Smart Eliza Warmonth	James Smart Eliza Warmouth 💍 1898/3932	Bachelor Spinster		32 25	Onamalutu Onamalutu	32 years 14 years	House of Mr. J. Warmonth, Onamalutu	98/3095		19 August 1898	Rev. E. Ensor
36	24 August 1898	Frederick Crook Blydeth Jane Hodson	Fredrick Crook Elizabeth Jane Hodson 💍 1898/3836	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 19	Blenheim Blenheim	23 years 19 years	House of Mr. J. Hodson, Blenheim	98/3085	J. Hodson, father	24 August 1898	Rev. W. U. Robb
37	3 September 1898	Henry Mannice Margaret Macmahon	Henry Maurice Margaret MacMahon 💍 1898/3832	Widower Spinster	Shepherd	46 40	Awatere Awatere	25 years 3 months	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim	98/3082		5 September 1898	H. J. Hawley, 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).