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 436

District of Riverton Quarter ending 30 September 1898

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

523

14 July 1898

George Alfred Ray
Mary Ellen Mitchell

George Alfred Ray
Mary Ellen Mitchell
💍 1898/4327

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter
Domestic Duties

28
22

Thornbury, Southland
Riverton

12 months
1 year

Wesleyan Church, Riverton

98/3492

14 July 1898

A. F. Ashley, Wesleyan Minister, Riverton

No	523
Date of Notice	14 July 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Alfred Ray	Mary Ellen Mitchell
	💍 1898/4327
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter	Domestic Duties
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Thornbury, Southland	Riverton
Length of Residence	12 months	1 year
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Riverton
Folio	98/3492
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1898
Officiating Minister	A. F. Ashley, Wesleyan Minister, Riverton

524

22 July 1898

Alexander Henderson Robson
Jane Vallon

Alexander Henderson Robson
Jane Fallow
💍 1898/4326

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

30
21

Thornbury, Southland
Thornbury

6 years
14 years

James Fallon's home at Thornbury, Southland

98/3494

22 July 1898

Rev. Ewen, Presbyterian Minister

No	524
Date of Notice	22 July 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Henderson Robson	Jane Vallon
BDM Match (91%)	Alexander Henderson Robson	Jane Fallow
	💍 1898/4326
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Thornbury, Southland	Thornbury
Length of Residence	6 years	14 years
Marriage Place	James Fallon's home at Thornbury, Southland
Folio	98/3494
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. Ewen, Presbyterian Minister

525

28 July 1898

Patrick R. O'Driscoll
Alice Beatrice Homer

Patrick O'Driscoll
Alice Beatrice Homer
💍 1898/4126

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Domestic Duties

22
21

Orepuki
Orepuki

22 years
17 years

Mrs. Homer's Residence, Orepuki

98/3602

28 July 1898

Rev. White

No	525
Date of Notice	28 July 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick R. O'Driscoll	Alice Beatrice Homer
BDM Match (93%)	Patrick O'Driscoll	Alice Beatrice Homer
	💍 1898/4126
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Domestic Duties
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Orepuki	Orepuki
Length of Residence	22 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Mrs. Homer's Residence, Orepuki
Folio	98/3602
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. White

526

13 August 1898

Harry Hamilton Juverlow
Margaret Fisher

Harry Hamilton Twemlow
Margaret Fisher
💍 1898/4324

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Domestic Duties

28
23

Riverton
Riverton

8 years
6 years

At the Residence of George Fisher, Riverton

98/3489

13 August 1898

Rev. McCully

No	526
Date of Notice	13 August 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Hamilton Juverlow	Margaret Fisher
BDM Match (91%)	Harry Hamilton Twemlow	Margaret Fisher
	💍 1898/4324
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Riverton	Riverton
Length of Residence	8 years	6 years
Marriage Place	At the Residence of George Fisher, Riverton
Folio	98/3489
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 August 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. McCully

527

18 August 1898

Garnet George Fletcher
Annie Brown

Garnet George Fletcher
Annie Brown
💍 1898/4086

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

25
25

Thornbury
Thornbury

15 years
25 years

Mrs. Wm. Brown's Residence, Thornbury

98/3495

18 August 1898

Rev. A. Macdonald

No	527
Date of Notice	18 August 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Garnet George Fletcher	Annie Brown
	💍 1898/4086
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Thornbury	Thornbury
Length of Residence	15 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Mrs. Wm. Brown's Residence, Thornbury
Folio	98/3495
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 August 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Macdonald

528

13 September 1898

Alfred Henry Officer
Jessie Reidie

Alfred Henry Officer
Jessie Reidie
💍 1898/4325

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic duties

34
27

Waipapa
Groper's Bush

6 months
23 years

In the home of David Reidie, Groper's Bush

98/3490

13 September 1898

Rev. J. Neave

No	528
Date of Notice	13 September 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Henry Officer	Jessie Reidie
	💍 1898/4325
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic duties
Age	34	27
Dwelling Place	Waipapa	Groper's Bush
Length of Residence	6 months	23 years
Marriage Place	In the home of David Reidie, Groper's Bush
Folio	98/3490
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 September 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Neave

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).