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 939

District of Riverton Quarter ending 31 December 1898 Registrar A. G. Ashby

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

Arthur Southern
Catherine Cordin

Arthur Southern
Catherine Corkin
💍 1898/5030

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic Duties

25
18

Oraki, Southland
Oraki, Southland

4 years
1 year

Roman Catholic Church, Oraki

98/5096

Father

10 October 1898

Rev. M. Walsh (Roman Catholic)

No	1
Date of Notice	10 October 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Southern	Catherine Cordin
BDM Match (97%)	Arthur Southern	Catherine Corkin
	💍 1898/5030
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic Duties
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Oraki, Southland	Oraki, Southland
Length of Residence	4 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Oraki
Folio	98/5096
Consent	Father
Date of Certificate	10 October 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Walsh (Roman Catholic)

25 October 1898

James Forbes
Annie Harris Nevall

James Forbes
Annie Harriet Newall
💍 1898/2576

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic Duties

23
23

Orepuki
Orepuki

23 years
4 days

At the Office of the Registrar, Riverton

98/4858

25 October 1898

A. G. Ashby (Registrar)

No	2
Date of Notice	25 October 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Forbes	Annie Harris Nevall
BDM Match (93%)	James Forbes	Annie Harriet Newall
	💍 1898/2576
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic Duties
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Orepuki	Orepuki
Length of Residence	23 years	4 days
Marriage Place	At the Office of the Registrar, Riverton
Folio	98/4858
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 October 1898
Officiating Minister	A. G. Ashby (Registrar)

31 October 1898

Hugh Patrick Flanagan
Norah Fitzgerald

George Patrick Flannagan
Norah Fitzgerald
💍 1898/5031

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

22
21

Orepuki
Orepuki

4 days
21 years

At the Roman Catholic Church, Riverton

98/5097

31 October 1898

Rev. M. Walsh (Roman Catholic)

No	3
Date of Notice	31 October 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Patrick Flanagan	Norah Fitzgerald
BDM Match (88%)	George Patrick Flannagan	Norah Fitzgerald
	💍 1898/5031
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Orepuki	Orepuki
Length of Residence	4 days	21 years
Marriage Place	At the Roman Catholic Church, Riverton
Folio	98/5097
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Walsh (Roman Catholic)

1 November 1898

Stephen James Webb
Grace Elizabeth Webb

Stephen James
Grace Elizabeth Webb
💍 1898/2579

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

31
20

Aparima
Danieltown

31 years
20 years

At the House of M. William Danieltown

98/4861

Elizabeth Alice Webb of Gummies Bush, Mother

1 November 1898

Rev. J. F. Burrows (Wesleyan)

No	4
Date of Notice	1 November 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stephen James Webb	Grace Elizabeth Webb
BDM Match (86%)	Stephen James	Grace Elizabeth Webb
	💍 1898/2579
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	31	20
Dwelling Place	Aparima	Danieltown
Length of Residence	31 years	20 years
Marriage Place	At the House of M. William Danieltown
Folio	98/4861
Consent	Elizabeth Alice Webb of Gummies Bush, Mother
Date of Certificate	1 November 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Burrows (Wesleyan)

5 November 1898

Thomas Henry Smith
Eugenie Esther Fraser

Thomas Hingo Smith
Georgina Esther Pearce
💍 1898/2580

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

31
26

Spear Bush, Southland
Riverton, Southland

7 years
9 years

At the Wesleyan Church, Riverton

98/4862

5 November 1898

Rev. J. F. Burrows (Wesleyan)

No	5
Date of Notice	5 November 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Smith	Eugenie Esther Fraser
BDM Match (64%)	Thomas Hingo Smith	Georgina Esther Pearce
	💍 1898/2580
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Spear Bush, Southland	Riverton, Southland
Length of Residence	7 years	9 years
Marriage Place	At the Wesleyan Church, Riverton
Folio	98/4862
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 November 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Burrows (Wesleyan)

22 November 1898

William White Clede
Alice Schroeder

William White Clode
Alice Schroeder
💍 1898/2577

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic

22
20

Colac Bay
Colac Bay

15 years
2 years

At the Office of the Registrar, Riverton

98/4859

Friedrich Wilhelm Schroeder of Colac Bay, Father

22 November 1898

A. G. Ashby (Registrar)

No	6
Date of Notice	22 November 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William White Clede	Alice Schroeder
BDM Match (97%)	William White Clode	Alice Schroeder
	💍 1898/2577
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Colac Bay	Colac Bay
Length of Residence	15 years	2 years
Marriage Place	At the Office of the Registrar, Riverton
Folio	98/4859
Consent	Friedrich Wilhelm Schroeder of Colac Bay, Father
Date of Certificate	22 November 1898
Officiating Minister	A. G. Ashby (Registrar)

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).