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 961

District of Winton Quarter ending 31 December 1898 Registrar William Russell

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

141

1 October 1898

John Morton
Dahlia Henderson

John Morton
Isabella Henderson
💍 1898/4911

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

44
26

Winton
Winton District

3 days
26 years

Presbyterian Church, Winton

98/4885

3 October 1898

Rev. William White, M.A. (Presbyterian)

No	141
Date of Notice	1 October 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Morton	Dahlia Henderson
BDM Match (86%)	John Morton	Isabella Henderson
	💍 1898/4911
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	44	26
Dwelling Place	Winton	Winton District
Length of Residence	3 days	26 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Winton
Folio	98/4885
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 October 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. William White, M.A. (Presbyterian)

142

24 October 1898

Alexander William Cowie
Bella McArthur

Alexander William Cowie
Isabella McArthur
💍 1898/4914

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
19

Winton
Winton

One House & one month
19 years

Presbyterian Church, Winton

98/4887

Janet McArthur (Mother)

24 October 1898

Rev. James Baird (Presbyterian)

No	142
Date of Notice	24 October 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander William Cowie	Bella McArthur
BDM Match (88%)	Alexander William Cowie	Isabella McArthur
	💍 1898/4914
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Winton	Winton
Length of Residence	One House & one month	19 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Winton
Folio	98/4887
Consent	Janet McArthur (Mother)
Date of Certificate	24 October 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Baird (Presbyterian)

143

8 October 1898

John Ronald Hamilton
Catherine Jane Hunter

John Ronald Hamilton
Catherine Jane Hunter
💍 1898/4912

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
21

Forest Hill
Winton

28 years
15 years

Church of England, Winton

98/4886

Rev. M. W. Butterfield (Curate of England)

27 October 1898

Rev. M. W. Butterfield (Curate of England)

No	143
Date of Notice	8 October 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ronald Hamilton	Catherine Jane Hunter
	💍 1898/4912
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Forest Hill	Winton
Length of Residence	28 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Winton
Folio	98/4886
Consent	Rev. M. W. Butterfield (Curate of England)
Date of Certificate	27 October 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. W. Butterfield (Curate of England)

144

8 November 1898

Henry Paterson Young
Mary Jane McWilliam

Henry Paterson Young
Mary Anne McWilliam
💍 1898/4915

Bachelor
Spinster

Teacher
Teacher

39
37

Winton
Winton

3 days
4 months

Presbyterian Church, Winton

98/4888

8 November 1898

Rev. James Baird (Presbyterian)

No	144
Date of Notice	8 November 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Paterson Young	Mary Jane McWilliam
BDM Match (95%)	Henry Paterson Young	Mary Anne McWilliam
	💍 1898/4915
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teacher	Teacher
Age	39	37
Dwelling Place	Winton	Winton
Length of Residence	3 days	4 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Winton
Folio	98/4888
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 November 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Baird (Presbyterian)

145

14 November 1898

Robert Montgomery Gilchrist
Ida Thompson

Robert Montgomery Gilmour
Ida Thompson
💍 1898/3490

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

23
22

Winton
Dromore

16 years
3 years

The Wesleyan Church, Dromore

98/4815

14 November 1898

Rev. John Luxford (Wesleyan)

No	145
Date of Notice	14 November 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Montgomery Gilchrist	Ida Thompson
BDM Match (89%)	Robert Montgomery Gilmour	Ida Thompson
	💍 1898/3490
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Winton	Dromore
Length of Residence	16 years	3 years
Marriage Place	The Wesleyan Church, Dromore
Folio	98/4815
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 November 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Luxford (Wesleyan)

146

3 December 1898

John Thomas Hill
Margaret Jane Lindsay

John Thomas Hill
Margaret Jane Lindsay
💍 1898/5061

Bachelor
Spinster

Coal Painter
Dressmaker

24
23

Winton
Winton

5 years
23 years

The Manse, Winton (Presbyterian)

98/5051

3 December 1898

Rev. Patrick J. Niven (Presbyterian)

No	146
Date of Notice	3 December 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Hill	Margaret Jane Lindsay
	💍 1898/5061
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coal Painter	Dressmaker
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Winton	Winton
Length of Residence	5 years	23 years
Marriage Place	The Manse, Winton (Presbyterian)
Folio	98/5051
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 December 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. Patrick J. Niven (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).