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 765

District of Kumara Quarter ending 31 December 1898 Registrar James McCon

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 October 1898

Thomas Hand
Fanny Sankey

Thomas Hunt
Fanny Sankey
💍 1898/4678

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolmaster
Domestic

25 years
25 years

Kumara
Kumara

14 years
2 years

Registrar's Office, Kumara

98/4423

14 October 1898

J. McCon, Registrar

No	10
Date of Notice	10 October 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Hand	Fanny Sankey
BDM Match (91%)	Thomas Hunt	Fanny Sankey
	💍 1898/4678
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolmaster	Domestic
Age	25 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Kumara	Kumara
Length of Residence	14 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Kumara
Folio	98/4423
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1898
Officiating Minister	J. McCon, Registrar

19 October 1898

Albert Henry Saebech
Selina Bonner

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

22 years
18 years

Kumara
Kumara

12 years
20 years

Church of England, Kumara

98/4996

24 October 1898

Rev. E. Whitehouse

No	11
Date of Notice	19 October 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Henry Saebech	Selina Bonner
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	22 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Kumara	Kumara
Length of Residence	12 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Kumara
Folio	98/4996
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 October 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Whitehouse

27 October 1898

Thomas O'Grady
Kate Wafer

Thomas O'Grady
Catherine Wafer
💍 1898/5083

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

26 years
21 years

Greenstone
Greenstone

15 months
2 years

Roman Catholic Chapel at Kumara

98/4999

12 November 1898

Rev. F. O'Hallahan

No	12
Date of Notice	27 October 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas O'Grady	Kate Wafer
BDM Match (80%)	Thomas O'Grady	Catherine Wafer
	💍 1898/5083
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	26 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Greenstone	Greenstone
Length of Residence	15 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel at Kumara
Folio	98/4999
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 November 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. O'Hallahan

27 October 1898

William Peter Daly
Ellen Hannah Ryan

William Peter Daly
Elena Frances Ryder
💍 1898/5084

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller
Dressmaker

24 years
23 years

Kumara
Kumara

3 years
2 years

Roman Catholic Chapel at Kumara

98/5000

21 November 1898

Rev. F. O'Hallahan

No	13
Date of Notice	27 October 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Peter Daly	Ellen Hannah Ryan
BDM Match (74%)	William Peter Daly	Elena Frances Ryder
	💍 1898/5084
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller	Dressmaker
Age	24 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Kumara	Kumara
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel at Kumara
Folio	98/5000
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 November 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. O'Hallahan

17 November 1898

John Stephen
Kate Ann Speirs

John Stephens
Kate Ford
💍 1898/5082

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
None

32 years
18 years

Kumara
Kumara

4 years
2 years

Church of England, Kumara

98/4997

22 December 1898

Rev. E. Whitehouse

No	14
Date of Notice	17 November 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Stephen	Kate Ann Speirs
BDM Match (66%)	John Stephens	Kate Ford
	💍 1898/5082
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	None
Age	32 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Kumara	Kumara
Length of Residence	4 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Kumara
Folio	98/4997
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Whitehouse

27 November 1898

Charles Powick
Ellen Annie Thorn

Charles James Powick
Ellen Annie Thorne
💍 1898/2820

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver
None

25 years
24 years

Kumara
Kumara

3 years
7 months

Church of England, Kumara

98/4998

27 December 1898

Rev. E. Whitehouse

No	15
Date of Notice	27 November 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Powick	Ellen Annie Thorn
BDM Match (82%)	Charles James Powick	Ellen Annie Thorne
	💍 1898/2820
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver	None
Age	25 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Kumara	Kumara
Length of Residence	3 years	7 months
Marriage Place	Church of England, Kumara
Folio	98/4998
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 December 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Whitehouse

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).