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 937

District of Port Chalmers Quarter ending 31 December 1898 Registrar J. H. Quickley

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

19 October 1898

Harry Mildue
Elizabeth Hutton

Harry Holden
Elizabeth Robertson
💍 1898/2591

Harry Harding
Elizabeth Bush
💍 1898/4175

Bachelor
Spinster

Fisherman
Nil

31
26

Port Chalmers
Lawyers Bay

12 months
12 months

House of Rev. E. C. Tennant, Lawyers Bay

98/4851

20 October 1898

Rev. E. C. Tennant, Presbyterian

No	19
Date of Notice	19 October 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Mildue	Elizabeth Hutton
BDM Match (68%)	Harry Holden	Elizabeth Robertson
	💍 1898/2591
BDM Match (61%)	Harry Harding	Elizabeth Bush
	💍 1898/4175
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fisherman	Nil
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Lawyers Bay
Length of Residence	12 months	12 months
Marriage Place	House of Rev. E. C. Tennant, Lawyers Bay
Folio	98/4851
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. C. Tennant, Presbyterian

19 October 1898

Walter Albert Carley
Mary Jean Meen

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Nil

28
24

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

14 months
14 months

House of Rev. E. C. Tennant, Port Chalmers

98/4852

20 October 1898

Rev. E. C. Tennant, Presbyterian

No	20
Date of Notice	19 October 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Albert Carley	Mary Jean Meen
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Nil
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	14 months	14 months
Marriage Place	House of Rev. E. C. Tennant, Port Chalmers
Folio	98/4852
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. C. Tennant, Presbyterian

24 October 1898

Ernest Henry Jenkins
Jessie Maria Meenat

Ernest Barnes
Jessie Maria Mouat
💍 1898/2571

Bachelor
Spinster

Warder
Nil

26
23

Purakanui
Purakanui

6 days
6 months

House of Rev. E. C. Tennant at Purakanui

98/4853

24 October 1898

Rev. E. C. Tennant, Presbyterian

No	21
Date of Notice	24 October 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Henry Jenkins	Jessie Maria Meenat
BDM Match (67%)	Ernest Barnes	Jessie Maria Mouat
	💍 1898/2571
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warder	Nil
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Purakanui	Purakanui
Length of Residence	6 days	6 months
Marriage Place	House of Rev. E. C. Tennant at Purakanui
Folio	98/4853
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 October 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. C. Tennant, Presbyterian

22 November 1898

John Haughton Macalpine
Jane Macalpine

John McNaughton
Jane McAlpine
💍 1898/2573

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nil

32
24

Port Chalmers
Reynolds Town

6 days
12 months

House of Rev. C. H. Standage, Reynolds Town

98/4854

22 November 1898

Rev. C. H. Standage, Wesleyan

No	22
Date of Notice	22 November 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Haughton Macalpine	Jane Macalpine
BDM Match (65%)	John McNaughton	Jane McAlpine
	💍 1898/2573
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nil
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Reynolds Town
Length of Residence	6 days	12 months
Marriage Place	House of Rev. C. H. Standage, Reynolds Town
Folio	98/4854
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 November 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Standage, Wesleyan

21 December 1898

William Yeoman Hatcher
Eleanor Hatcher

Bachelor
Spinster

Sailmaker
Domestic

27
23

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

5 days
12 months

House of Oswald Hatcher, Carey Bay

98/4856

22 December 1898

Rev. C. H. Standage, Wesleyan

No	23
Date of Notice	21 December 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Yeoman Hatcher	Eleanor Hatcher
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sailmaker	Domestic
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	5 days	12 months
Marriage Place	House of Oswald Hatcher, Carey Bay
Folio	98/4856
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Standage, Wesleyan

29 December 1898

John Miles
Elizabeth Leaudin

John Mason
Elizabeth Dowling
💍 1898/1369

John Ball
Elizabeth Godby
💍 1899/1189

John Johnson
Elizabeth Ferguson
💍 1898/1922

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Nil

22
20

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

12 months
12 months

House of James Leaudin, Port Chalmers

99/1091

James Leaudin, father

30 December 1898

Rev. E. C. Tennant, Presbyterian

No	24
Date of Notice	29 December 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Miles	Elizabeth Leaudin
BDM Match (62%)	John Mason	Elizabeth Dowling
	💍 1898/1369
BDM Match (62%)	John Ball	Elizabeth Godby
	💍 1899/1189
BDM Match (61%)	John Johnson	Elizabeth Ferguson
	💍 1898/1922
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Nil
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	12 months	12 months
Marriage Place	House of James Leaudin, Port Chalmers
Folio	99/1091
Consent	James Leaudin, father
Date of Certificate	30 December 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. C. Tennant, 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).