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 582

District of Waihi Quarter ending 31 December 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
62	25 November 1898	Samuel Campbell Mary Ann Diamond	Samuel John Campbell Mary Eleanor Hawland 💍 1898/3257	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	34 35	Waihi Waihi	5 months 5 months	Private Residence, Waihi	98/3994	25 November 1898	Rev. James J. Haslett
63	1 December 1898	Edward Adams Frances Theresa Gibbons	Edward Adams Francis Theresa Gibbons 💍 1898/3265	Bachelor Spinster	Timber Merchant	28 22	Waihi Waihi	4 years 3 years	Wesleyan Church, Waihi	98/4001	1 December 1898	Rev. William Beckett
64	10 December 1898	James Grim Ethel May Donstan	James Ginn Ethel Jane May Dunstan 💍 1898/3267	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	24 19	Waihi Waihi	16 months 6 months	Private Residence, Waihi	98/4003	10 December 1898	Rev. William Beckett
65	12 December 1898	William John Edwards Edith Margaret Pearce	William John Petherbridge Edith Margaret Pearce 💍 1898/3266	Bachelor Spinster	Dentist	29 26	Waihi Waihi	3 years 2 years	Private Residence, Waihi	98/4002	12 December 1898	Rev. William Beckett
66	12 December 1898	James Adams Agnes Furley	James Adams Agnes Harley 💍 1898/3259	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	23 23	Waihi Waihi	3 years 9 years	St. John's Church, Waihi	98/3996	12 December 1898	Rev. W. H. Wilson
67	14 December 1898	Ernest Herbert Bowman Mary Ann Murray		Bachelor Spinster	Captain S. A. Captain S. A.	28 29	Waihi Waihi	5 months 3 days	S. A. Barracks, Waihi	98/4004	14 December 1898	Major John Gunn, S. A.
68	14 December 1898	William Ralph Thomas Annie Helen Scott	William Joseph Mercer Coruthwaite Annie Helen Flett 💍 1898/3258	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	31 29	Waihi Waihi	3 years 3 years	Royal Hotel, Waihi	98/3995	14 December 1898	John Mackenzie, M. A.
69	21 December 1898	Walter Herbert Bowman Matilda Ellen Poggo	Walter Herbert Simmons Matilda Ellen Boggs 💍 1898/3269	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	24 18	Waihi Waihi	3 years 2 years	Registrar's Office, Waihi	98/4005	21 December 1898	Registrar
70	21 December 1898	Edwin Dayley Fanny Gertrude Scott	Edwin Ongley Fanny Gertrude Scott 💍 1898/3260	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	29 21	Waihi Waihi	2 years 4 years	St. John's Church, Waihi	98/3997	21 December 1898	Rev. W. H. Wilson
71	23 December 1898	William Robert Dundas Theresa Magee	William Robert Dundas Theresa Magee 💍 1898/3262	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	29 25	Waihi Waihi	3 years 12 months	Private Residence, Waihi	98/3999	23 December 1898	Rev. Samuel Barnett

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).