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 889

District of Gabriels Quarter ending 31 December 1898 Registrar Hey, Millan & Co.

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

1 November 1898

George White
Grace Shaw

George White
Grace Fair
💍 1898/4876

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

24 years
18 years

Lawrence
Lawrence

25 years
7 years

House of Jno Alexander

98/4775

Jno Alexander, Father

4 November 1898

Rev. A. M. Will, Presbyterian

No	21
Date of Notice	1 November 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George White	Grace Shaw
BDM Match (80%)	George White	Grace Fair
	💍 1898/4876
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	24 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Lawrence	Lawrence
Length of Residence	25 years	7 years
Marriage Place	House of Jno Alexander
Folio	98/4775
Consent	Jno Alexander, Father
Date of Certificate	4 November 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Will, Presbyterian

5 November 1898

Robert Ross Mood
Sarah Amelia Miller

Robert Ross Moore
Sarah Amelia Miller
💍 1898/4982

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier

26 years
23 years

Lawrence
Lawrence

1 week
23 years

Church of St. Paul, Beaumont, England

98/5070

28 November 1898

Rev. D. L. Beaumont, England

No	22
Date of Notice	5 November 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Ross Mood	Sarah Amelia Miller
BDM Match (94%)	Robert Ross Moore	Sarah Amelia Miller
	💍 1898/4982
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier
Age	26 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Lawrence	Lawrence
Length of Residence	1 week	23 years
Marriage Place	Church of St. Paul, Beaumont, England
Folio	98/5070
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 November 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. L. Beaumont, England

5 December 1898

Eugene Francis Sullivan
Mary Jane Evans

Eugene Francis Sullivan
Mary Jane Ewan Rosina Green
💍 1898/4712

Bachelor
Spinster

Rabbit Agent

27 years
26 years

Lawrence
Waitahuna

8 months
26 years

The House of Rev. A. M. Finlayson

98/4660

5 December 1898

Rev. A. M. Finlayson, Presbyterian

No	23
Date of Notice	5 December 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eugene Francis Sullivan	Mary Jane Evans
BDM Match (76%)	Eugene Francis Sullivan	Mary Jane Ewan Rosina Green
	💍 1898/4712
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Rabbit Agent
Age	27 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Lawrence	Waitahuna
Length of Residence	8 months	26 years
Marriage Place	The House of Rev. A. M. Finlayson
Folio	98/4660
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 December 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Finlayson, Presbyterian

12 December 1898

Matthew Henry Potto
Isabella Ellen Sutherland

Matthew Henry Potts
Isabella Ellen Sutherland
💍 1898/4904

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

31 years
27 years

Lawrence
Waitahuna

26 years
27 years

House of Mr. Robert Sutherland, Waitahuna

98/4878

12 December 1898

Rev. James Reid, Presbyterian

No	24
Date of Notice	12 December 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew Henry Potto	Isabella Ellen Sutherland
BDM Match (97%)	Matthew Henry Potts	Isabella Ellen Sutherland
	💍 1898/4904
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	31 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Lawrence	Waitahuna
Length of Residence	26 years	27 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Robert Sutherland, Waitahuna
Folio	98/4878
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 December 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Reid, Presbyterian

31 December 1898

Edward Faden
Margaret Nicoll

Albert Edward Fowler
Margaret Nicoll
💍 1899/1089

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Teacher

30 years
29 years

Lawrence
Lawrence

10 days
10 days

House of Rev. A. M. Will

99/1082

31 December 1898

Rev. A. M. Will, Presbyterian

No	25
Date of Notice	31 December 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Faden	Margaret Nicoll
BDM Match (73%)	Albert Edward Fowler	Margaret Nicoll
	💍 1899/1089
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Teacher
Age	30 years	29 years
Dwelling Place	Lawrence	Lawrence
Length of Residence	10 days	10 days
Marriage Place	House of Rev. A. M. Will
Folio	99/1082
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 December 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Will, 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 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).