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 905

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 December 1898 Registrar John Logan Buch

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

139

13 December 1898

Frederick Alexander Dewilder
Eliza Trigg Evans

Frederick Alexander Gutzewitz
Eliza Gregg Evans
💍 1898/4897

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder

23
26

Invercargill
Oporo

10 years
7 years

A. Bevan, Oporo

98/4822

13 December 1898

Rev. J. White

No	139
Date of Notice	13 December 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Alexander Dewilder	Eliza Trigg Evans
BDM Match (80%)	Frederick Alexander Gutzewitz	Eliza Gregg Evans
	💍 1898/4897
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder
Age	23	26
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Oporo
Length of Residence	10 years	7 years
Marriage Place	A. Bevan, Oporo
Folio	98/4822
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 December 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. White

140

14 December 1898

James Newton Mitchell
Mary Isabella Huldran

James McLean
Mary Isabella Meldrum
💍 1898/3480

Bachelor
Spinster

Oil Refiner

28
24

Invercargill
Long Bush

21 years
17 years

St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Invercargill

98/4806

14 December 1898

Rev. Geo. Lindsay

No	140
Date of Notice	14 December 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Newton Mitchell	Mary Isabella Huldran
BDM Match (62%)	James McLean	Mary Isabella Meldrum
	💍 1898/3480
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Oil Refiner
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Long Bush
Length of Residence	21 years	17 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Invercargill
Folio	98/4806
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 December 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Lindsay

141

15 December 1898

David Andrew Riddell
Elizabeth Organ

David Andrew Mitchell
Elizabeth Organ
💍 1898/3492

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

27
27

Invercargill
Invercargill

15 years
27 years

Ashley Hall, Esk Street, Invercargill

98/4817

15 December 1898

Rev. J. Lusford

No	141
Date of Notice	15 December 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Andrew Riddell	Elizabeth Organ
BDM Match (91%)	David Andrew Mitchell	Elizabeth Organ
	💍 1898/3492
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	15 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Ashley Hall, Esk Street, Invercargill
Folio	98/4817
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 December 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Lusford

142

20 December 1898

Andrew Stenhouse
Margaret Simpson Lord

Andrew Stenhouse
Margaret Simpson McLeod
💍 1898/4898

Bachelor
Spinster

Medical Practitioner

29
28

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
25 years

House of Dr. Bucke, Leven Street, Invercargill

98/4823

20 December 1898

Rev. J. White

No	142
Date of Notice	20 December 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Stenhouse	Margaret Simpson Lord
BDM Match (91%)	Andrew Stenhouse	Margaret Simpson McLeod
	💍 1898/4898
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Medical Practitioner
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	25 years
Marriage Place	House of Dr. Bucke, Leven Street, Invercargill
Folio	98/4823
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 December 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. White

143

20 December 1898

Joseph Forsyth
Flora Rose

Joseph Wyeth
Flora Rose
💍 1898/3498

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
21

Woodlands
Woodlands

23 years
18 months

House of George Rose, Woodlands

98/4800

20 December 1898

Rev. T. Alexander

No	143
Date of Notice	20 December 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Forsyth	Flora Rose
BDM Match (82%)	Joseph Wyeth	Flora Rose
	💍 1898/3498
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Woodlands	Woodlands
Length of Residence	23 years	18 months
Marriage Place	House of George Rose, Woodlands
Folio	98/4800
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 December 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Alexander

144

20 December 1898

Duncan McKenzie
Agnes Howie

Duncan McKenzie
Agnes Howie
💍 1898/3484

Widower
Spinster

Gardener
Dressmaker

35
37

Invercargill
Invercargill

24 years
14 years

House of Mrs. J. Howie, Eye Street, Invercargill

98/4810

20 December 1898

Rev. J. E. Gibson Smith

No	144
Date of Notice	20 December 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Duncan McKenzie	Agnes Howie
	💍 1898/3484
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Dressmaker
Age	35	37
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	24 years	14 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. J. Howie, Eye Street, Invercargill
Folio	98/4810
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 December 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. E. Gibson Smith

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).