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 628

District of Norsewood 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	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
118	3 October 1898	William Sussex Helena Sorensen	William Sussex Helena Sorrensen 💍 1898/4641	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Labourer Dressmaker	28 21	Norsewood Palmerston North	18 months 1 month	At the home of Mr. Fullenan, Palmerston North	98/4189		3 October 1898	Rev. William Henry Beck (Methodist)
119	25 October 1898	Walter Furst Maren Susanna Magdalena Nielsen	Walter Curtis Maree Susanna Magdalena Nielsen 💍 1898/4516	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic	35 20	Norsewood Norsewood	4 days 20 years	At the house of Jens Nielsen, Norsewood	98/4114	Jens Nielsen, father of Maren Susanna Magdalena Nielsen	25 October 1898	Rev. Niels Nielsen Topholm (Lutheran)
120	2 December 1898	Richard Max Fischer Gunda Mary Thomsen	Richard Max Fischer Gunda Mary Thomsen 💍 1898/4517	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	33 24	Norsewood Norsewood	22 years 22 years	At the Salvation Army Barracks, Norsewood	98/4115		4 December 1898	Rev. Niels Nielsen Topholm (Lutheran)
121	17 December 1898	Paul Christian Nielsen Hanna Christiana Bai	Paul Christesen Nissen Hanna Christiana Bai 💍 1898/4518	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	19 20	Norsewood Norsewood	11 months 6 months	At the Lutheran Church, Norsewood	98/4116	Hans Christian Nielsen, father of Paul Christian Nielsen; Hans Jorgensen Bai, father of Hanna Christiana Bai	17 December 1898	Rev. Niels Nielsen Topholm (Lutheran)
122	20 December 1898	David Thomas Harris Susan Ellen Finch	David Thomas Harris Susan Ellen Finch 💍 1898/4522	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	29 29	Norsewood Norsewood	10 years 1 month	Office of the Registrar, Norsewood	98/4118		22 December 1898	Abelwebber, Registrar, Norsewood
123	22 December 1898	John Kilkolly Mary Nielsen	John Kilkolly Mary Nielsen 💍 1898/4519	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	22 18	Norsewood Norsewood	2 years 18 years	Office of the Registrar, Norsewood	98/4117	Christina Nielsen, mother of Mary Nielsen	22 December 1898	Abelwebber, Registrar, Norsewood
124	27 December 1898	John D. Watson Clara J. King	John D Watson Clara J King 💍 1898/4520	Bachelor Spinster	Teacher Teacher	37 25	Matamau Matamau	3 years 3 years	At the home of Mr. King, Matamau	98/4119		27 December 1898	Rev. E. Eldridge (Presbyterian)
125	27 December 1898	John Laughley Ellen Ann King	John Caughley Ellen Ann King 💍 1898/4525	Bachelor Spinster	Teacher Teacher	27 29	Matamau Matamau	3 days 1 year	At the home of Mr. King, Matamau	98/4120		27 December 1898	Rev. E. Eldridge (Presbyterian)

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).