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 341

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 September 1898 Registrar Alexander Montgomery

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

10 July 1898

Samuel Bowman
Fanny Bellington

Samuel Bowman
Fanny Bebbington
💍 1898/4158

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairy Factory Manager

24 years
22 years

Seadown
Seadown

1 week
12 years

Dwellinghouse of Robert Campbell Seadown

98/3682

15 July 1898

Rev. John Dickson, Presbyterian Minister

No	39
Date of Notice	10 July 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Bowman	Fanny Bellington
BDM Match (94%)	Samuel Bowman	Fanny Bebbington
	💍 1898/4158
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairy Factory Manager
Age	24 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Seadown	Seadown
Length of Residence	1 week	12 years
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of Robert Campbell Seadown
Folio	98/3682
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Dickson, Presbyterian Minister

2 August 1898

Alexander Richard Waters Leslie
Ellen Hosking

Alexander Richard Waters Leslie
Ellen Hosking
💍 1898/3955

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26 years
27 years

Timaru
Timaru

1 month
5 weeks

Primitive Methodist Church Timaru

98/3821

5 August 1898

Rev. P.R. Jones, Primitive Methodist Minister

No	40
Date of Notice	2 August 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Richard Waters Leslie	Ellen Hosking
	💍 1898/3955
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	1 month	5 weeks
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church Timaru
Folio	98/3821
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 August 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. P.R. Jones, Primitive Methodist Minister

8 August 1898

Joseph Tancred Stonyer
Eleanor Williams

JosephTancred Stomper
Eleanor Williams
💍 1898/3956

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Housekeeper

29 years
30 years

Beaconsfield
Otipua

10 years
8 years

English Church Beaconsfield

98/3322

8 August 1898

Rev. L.C. Brady, Church of England Clergyman

No	41
Date of Notice	8 August 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Tancred Stonyer	Eleanor Williams
BDM Match (93%)	JosephTancred Stomper	Eleanor Williams
	💍 1898/3956
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Housekeeper
Age	29 years	30 years
Dwelling Place	Beaconsfield	Otipua
Length of Residence	10 years	8 years
Marriage Place	English Church Beaconsfield
Folio	98/3322
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 August 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. L.C. Brady, Church of England Clergyman

9 August 1898

George Wm Thomas
Edith Haste

George William Thomas
Edith Haste
💍 1898/3957

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

40 years
38 years

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
6 weeks

St. Mary's English Church Timaru

98/3323

9 August 1898

Rev. J.M. Whitehead M.A., Church of England Clergyman

No	42
Date of Notice	9 August 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Wm Thomas	Edith Haste
BDM Match (88%)	George William Thomas	Edith Haste
	💍 1898/3957
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	40 years	38 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Mary's English Church Timaru
Folio	98/3323
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 August 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. J.M. Whitehead M.A., Church of England Clergyman

26 September 1898

Henry Rothwell
Margaret Mary Reilly (Kirby)

Henry Rothwell
Margaret Mary Kirby
💍 1898/3959

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotelkeeper

39 years
25 years

Timaru
Timaru

23 years
6 months

Roman Catholic Priory Timaru

98/3325

26 September 1898

Rev. John Tubman, Roman Catholic Priest

No	43
Date of Notice	26 September 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Rothwell	Margaret Mary Reilly (Kirby)
BDM Match (84%)	Henry Rothwell	Margaret Mary Kirby
	💍 1898/3959
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotelkeeper
Age	39 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	23 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Priory Timaru
Folio	98/3325
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 September 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Tubman, Roman Catholic Priest

27 September 1898

Frederick Hatts
Ethel Frances Reilly

Frederick Watts
Ethel Frances Reilly
💍 1898/3958

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

27 years
24 years

Timaru
Timaru

4 days
1 month

St. Mary's English Church Timaru

98/3324

27 September 1898

Rev. J.M. Whitehead, Church of England Clergyman

No	44
Date of Notice	27 September 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Hatts	Ethel Frances Reilly
BDM Match (97%)	Frederick Watts	Ethel Frances Reilly
	💍 1898/3958
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	27 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	4 days	1 month
Marriage Place	St. Mary's English Church Timaru
Folio	98/3324
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 September 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. J.M. Whitehead, Church of England Clergyman

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).