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 261

District of Nelson 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
36	1 July 1898	Robert Kerr Mary Cecilia Turner	Robert Kerr Mary Cecilia Turner 💍 1898/3926	Bachelor Widow	Sheep Farmer Hotelkeeper	39 27	Trafalgar Road, Nelson Trafalgar Street	5 years 5 years	The residence of Henry Batchelor, Trafalgar Road, Nelson	98/3112		1 July 1898	Rev. N. J. Mahoney, Roman Catholic Minister
37	8 July 1898	Richard Sutton Richmond Georgina Priscilla Pike	Richard Hutton Richmond Georgina Priscilla Pike 💍 1898/3921	Bachelor Spinster	Dentist Domestic Duties	35 30	Stoke Stoke	9 years 9 years	St. Barnabas Church	98/3108		8 July 1898	Rev. Charles O. Mules, Church of England Bishop
38	8 July 1898	Alexander Brooke Boyd Margaret Miller Beveridge	Alexander Brooke Boyd Margaret Miller Beveridge 💍 1898/3046	Bachelor Spinster	Medical Practitioner Domestic Duties	35 35	Brookley, Fendalton Addington, Christchurch	6 months 6 months	St. Mary's Church	98/3238		8 July 1898	Rev. W. S. Bean, Church of England Minister
39	20 July 1898	George Flemming Helen Coombs	George Flemming Ellen Coombs 💍 1898/2508	Widower Widow	Butcher Domestic Duties	51 46	Halifax Street, Nelson Waimea Road	43 years 20 years	Church of Christ, Waimea Road	98/3723		20 July 1898	Rev. James Hay, Church of Christ Minister
40	22 July 1898	William Arthur Dee Sarah Brown	William Arthur Dee Sarah Brown 💍 1898/3928 William McDonald Sarah Brown 💍 1898/3568 Alexander McPhee Sarah Brown 💍 1898/942 William Thomas Craigie Martha Brown 💍 1898/2304	Bachelor Spinster	Clothier Domestic Duties	31 23	Collingwood Street Hardy Street	31 years 15 years	Residence of Nelson Brown	98/3114		22 July 1898	Rev. J. H. Mackenzie, Presbyterian Minister
41	29 July 1898	Charles Ernest Wilson Christiana Kidson	Charles Ernest Wilson Christiana Kidson 💍 1898/3925	Bachelor Spinster	Insurance Clerk Domestic Duties	27 32	Trafalgar Street South St. Vincent Street	2 years 3 years	Residence of Charles Kidson	98/3111		29 July 1898	Rev. S. F. Prior, Wesleyan Minister
42	1 August 1898	Harry Ernest Fookes Eleanor Mary Rochfort	Harry Egmont Fookes Eleanor Mary Rochfort 💍 1898/3923	Bachelor Spinster	Telegraphist Teacher	30 26	Nile Street East Manuka Street	3 days 3 months	All Saints Church	98/3109		1 August 1898	Rev. W. Chatterton, Church of England Minister
43	30 August 1898	David Waters Gunn Ellen Holdaway	David Waters Gunn Ellen Holdaway 💍 1898/4162	Widower Widow	Storekeeper Domestic Duties	52 44	Richmond, New Zealand Richmond, New Zealand	15 years 15 years	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson	98/3663		30 August 1898	Robert Kaye, Deputy Registrar
44	6 September 1898	John Goodman Mary Williams	John Goodman Mary Williams 💍 1898/3927	Bachelor Spinster	Gas Stoker Domestic Duties	27 24	Waimea Street, Nelson Bridge Street	3 years 15 years	Catholic Station, Manuka Street, Nelson	98/3113		6 September 1898	Rev. N. J. Mahoney, Roman Catholic Minister
45	9 September 1898	George Watman Charlotte Constance Barnes	George Weetman Charlotte Constance Barnes 💍 1898/3924	Bachelor Spinster	Surveyor Domestic Duties	32 30	Beachville Beachville	30 years 30 years	All Saints Church	98/3110		9 September 1898	Rev. F. W. Chatterton, Church of England Minister
46	13 September 1898	George Atkinson Mabel Annie Newport	George Atkinson Mabel Annie Newport 💍 1898/4164	Bachelor Spinster	Ironsmith Domestic Duties	25 20	Haven Road Nile Street East	20 years 9 years	Residence of William Newport, Nelson	98/3665	William Newport, Father of Bride	13 September 1898	R. S. Gray, Baptist Minister
47	28 September 1898	William Kenny Millar Phoebe Guest	William Henry Millar Phoebe Guest 💍 1898/4163	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler Domestic Servant	26 22	Alma Street Waimea Road	26 years 22 years	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson	98/3664		28 September 1898	Hugh Calders, 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).