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 424

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 September 1898 Registrar Henry Hawthorne Grant

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

971

5 July 1898

Alexander Beck
Anna Mary Hore

Alexander Beck
Annie Mary Rive
💍 1898/4331

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23
20

Oamaru
Georgetown

15 years
15 years

At the residence of Mr. John Rive, Georgetown

98/3478

5 July 1898

Rev. John Stevens, Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland

No	971
Date of Notice	5 July 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Beck	Anna Mary Hore
BDM Match (83%)	Alexander Beck	Annie Mary Rive
	💍 1898/4331
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Georgetown
Length of Residence	15 years	15 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of Mr. John Rive, Georgetown
Folio	98/3478
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Stevens, Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland

972

5 July 1898

Peter Mackenzie
Margaret Mackay

Peter Mackenzie
Margaret Mackay
💍 1898/4333

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

29
26

Oamaru
Oamaru

2 years
6 months

At the residence of Mr. William Wright, Shell Street, Oamaru

98/3475

5 July 1898

Rev. William Wright, Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland

No	972
Date of Notice	5 July 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Mackenzie	Margaret Mackay
	💍 1898/4333
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	2 years	6 months
Marriage Place	At the residence of Mr. William Wright, Shell Street, Oamaru
Folio	98/3475
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Wright, Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland

973

20 July 1898

Michael Little
Mary Jane Meek

Michael Little
Mary Jane Meek
💍 1898/4334

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

37
32

Ngapara
Enfield

20 years
12 years

At the residence of Mr. William Meek, Enfield

98/3476

20 July 1898

Rev. James Standing, Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland

No	973
Date of Notice	20 July 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Little	Mary Jane Meek
	💍 1898/4334
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	37	32
Dwelling Place	Ngapara	Enfield
Length of Residence	20 years	12 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of Mr. William Meek, Enfield
Folio	98/3476
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Standing, Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland

974

25 July 1898

John Robert Franklin
Jane Walker Loving

John Robert Franklin
Jane Walker Irving
💍 1898/3327

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Dressmaker

25
29

South Oamaru
Oamaru

23 years
29 years

At the house of Mr. James Loving, Reed Street, Oamaru

98/3695

25 July 1898

Rev. R. J. Porter, Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland

No	974
Date of Notice	25 July 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Robert Franklin	Jane Walker Loving
BDM Match (94%)	John Robert Franklin	Jane Walker Irving
	💍 1898/3327
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	25	29
Dwelling Place	South Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	23 years	29 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Mr. James Loving, Reed Street, Oamaru
Folio	98/3695
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Porter, Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland

975

6 September 1898

William McCone
Ann Marston

William McCone
Anne Moreton
💍 1898/4335

Bachelor
Spinster

Ploughman

36
24

Oamaru
Whitestone

10 days
24 years

At the house of Mr. Charles, Whitestone

98/3477

6 September 1898

Rev. James Standing, Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland

No	975
Date of Notice	6 September 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McCone	Ann Marston
BDM Match (88%)	William McCone	Anne Moreton
	💍 1898/4335
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ploughman
Age	36	24
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Whitestone
Length of Residence	10 days	24 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Mr. Charles, Whitestone
Folio	98/3477
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 September 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Standing, Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland

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).