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 291

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 1898 Registrar P. Parkerson

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

312

18 July 1898

Martin Joseph Browne
Bridget Beatrice Burke

Martin Joseph Browne
Bridget Beatrice Burke
💍 1898/3854

Bachelor
Spinster

Cigaret Maker

34
28

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 months

Roman Catholic Church, Barbadoes St.

98/3183

18 July 1898

Rev. W. des Cleeves, Roman Catholic

No	312
Date of Notice	18 July 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Joseph Browne	Bridget Beatrice Burke
	💍 1898/3854
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cigaret Maker
Age	34	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Barbadoes St.
Folio	98/3183
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 July 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. des Cleeves, Roman Catholic

313

18 July 1898

James Soll
Lillian Harper

James Joll
Lillian Harper
💍 1898/3902

James Hollis
Annie Harper
💍 1898/313

Bachelor
Spinster

Plasterer

30
24

Sydenham
Opawa

30 years
24 years

House of Mr. J. Harper, Sydenham

98/3217

18 July 1898

Rev. H. Ball, Wesleyan

No	313
Date of Notice	18 July 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Soll	Lillian Harper
BDM Match (95%)	James Joll	Lillian Harper
	💍 1898/3902
BDM Match (66%)	James Hollis	Annie Harper
	💍 1898/313
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plasterer
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Opawa
Length of Residence	30 years	24 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. J. Harper, Sydenham
Folio	98/3217
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 July 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Ball, Wesleyan

314

19 July 1898

Isaac Hudson
Frances Henrietta Stokes

Isaac Judson
Frances Henrietta Stokes
💍 1898/3899

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 years

House of Mr. James Stokes, Colombo St.

98/3214

19 July 1898

Rev. J. McLeod, Wesleyan

No	314
Date of Notice	19 July 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Isaac Hudson	Frances Henrietta Stokes
BDM Match (96%)	Isaac Judson	Frances Henrietta Stokes
	💍 1898/3899
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. James Stokes, Colombo St.
Folio	98/3214
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. McLeod, Wesleyan

315

19 July 1898

Charles Hedley Vickers
Marian Emily Hart

Charles Hedley Vickers
Marion Emily Hart
💍 1898/3037

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

31
26

New Plymouth
Christchurch

3 years
26 years

St. Michaels Church, New Plymouth

98/3230

19 July 1898

Rev. A.W. Averill, Anglican

No	315
Date of Notice	19 July 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Hedley Vickers	Marian Emily Hart
BDM Match (97%)	Charles Hedley Vickers	Marion Emily Hart
	💍 1898/3037
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	New Plymouth	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	26 years
Marriage Place	St. Michaels Church, New Plymouth
Folio	98/3230
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. A.W. Averill, Anglican

316

20 July 1898

George Lee
Eliza Mary Wright

George Tree
Edith Mary Wright
💍 1898/2766

Bachelor
Spinster

Woolscourer
Dressmaker

25
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

15 years
15 years

Primitive Methodist Church, Chester Street

98/3259

20 July 1898

Rev. T.H. Dyson, Primitive Methodist

No	316
Date of Notice	20 July 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Lee	Eliza Mary Wright
BDM Match (82%)	George Tree	Edith Mary Wright
	💍 1898/2766
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Woolscourer	Dressmaker
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	15 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Chester Street
Folio	98/3259
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. T.H. Dyson, Primitive Methodist

317

20 July 1898

Charles Edward Wootton
May McKinnon

Charles Edward Wootton
Mary Steven McKerrow
💍 1898/4151

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Domestic

26
21

Christchurch
Dunedin

2 months
21 years

Wesleyan Church, Durham St.

98/3676

20 July 1898

Rev. J.N. Newbold, Wesleyan

No	317
Date of Notice	20 July 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edward Wootton	May McKinnon
BDM Match (70%)	Charles Edward Wootton	Mary Steven McKerrow
	💍 1898/4151
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Domestic
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 months	21 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Durham St.
Folio	98/3676
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. J.N. Newbold, Wesleyan

318

20 July 1898

Albert Henry Luoss
Esther Owen

Albert Henry Snook
Esther Owen
💍 1898/4026

Bachelor
Spinster

Manufacturer

24
23

Linwood
Linwood

10 years
9 years

Church of the Good Shepherd

98/3253

20 July 1898

Rev. H.J.C. Elwell, Anglican

No	318
Date of Notice	20 July 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Henry Luoss	Esther Owen
BDM Match (89%)	Albert Henry Snook	Esther Owen
	💍 1898/4026
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Manufacturer
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	10 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Church of the Good Shepherd
Folio	98/3253
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. H.J.C. Elwell, Anglican

319

20 July 1898

John Thomas Forward
Emily Cookson

John Thomas Hill Forward
Emily Cookson
💍 1898/3113

Bachelor
Spinster

Plasterer

32
31

St. Albans
Christchurch

4 years
3 years

Registrar's Office

98/3159

20 July 1898

Registrar of Marriages

No	319
Date of Notice	20 July 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Forward	Emily Cookson
BDM Match (90%)	John Thomas Hill Forward	Emily Cookson
	💍 1898/3113
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plasterer
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	98/3159
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1898
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

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 1903. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).