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 293

District of Christchurch 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
328	25 July 1898	George Atges Jane Lees	George Atyes Jane Lees 💍 1898/3056	Bachelor Widow	Builder	58 49	Christchurch Christchurch	3 months 3 months	Holy Trinity Church	98/3225		25 July 1898	Rev. W. A. Pascoe, Anglican
329	25 July 1898	Thomas Dawson Mary Ann Fraser	Thomas Dawson Mary Ann Fraser 💍 1898/3903	Bachelor Spinster	Maltster	28 19	Christchurch Christchurch	28 years 19 years	Wesleyan Church, Colombo Street Sydenham	98/3218	Simon Fraser, Father	25 July 1898	Rev. H. Bull, Anglican
330	26 July 1898	Andrew Stirling Alexander Elizabeth Millar	Andrew Stirling Alexander Elizabeth Millar 💍 1898/3115 James Sinclair Elizabeth Millar 💍 1898/1475	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Domestic	24 22	Christchurch Christchurch	4 months 14 years	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	98/3161		26 July 1898	Registrar of Marriages, M. Parkerson
331	26 July 1898	Henry Edward Jones Emma Lodge	Henry Edward Jones Emma Lodge 💍 1898/3116	Bachelor Widow	Cook Domestic	31 42	Christchurch Christchurch	3 months 35 years	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	98/3162		26 July 1898	Registrar of Marriages, M. Markerson
332	27 July 1898	James Barnett Amy Josephine Thanks	James Barrett Amy Josephine Shanks 💍 1898/3889	Bachelor Spinster	Cooper	30 19	Christchurch Christchurch	20 years 18 months	Residence of Rev. W. Scorgie, Ferry Road	98/3205	Robert James Thanks, Father	27 July 1898	Rev. W. Scorgie, Presbyterian
333	27 July 1898	William Duncan McInnes Minnie Louisa Higgin Linkhorn	William Duncan McInnes Minnie Louisa Higgin Linkhorn 💍 1898/4008	Bachelor Spinster	Salvation Army Officer Salvation Army Officer	28 27	Sydenham Linwood	1 year 2 weeks	Salvation Army Barracks, Linwood	98/3257		27 July 1898	W. J. Harris, Salvationist
334	29 July 1898	Henry Harold McBrearty Sarah Ann Gillard Ford	Henry Harold McBrearty Sarah Ann Gillard Ford 💍 1898/3117	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Domestic	24 22	Christchurch Christchurch	24 years 3 days	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	98/3163		29 July 1898	Registrar of Marriages, J. M. Markerson
335	30 July 1898	Stephen Legg Elsie Bennett	Stephen Legg Elsie Bennett 💍 1898/3047	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	27 20	Christchurch Christchurch	20 years 3 years	St. Mary's Church, Addington	98/3239	George Thomas Beauchamp, Father	30 July 1898	Rev. L. S. Beauchamp, Anglican

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).