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 774

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 December 1898

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
1081	1 December 1898	Thomas Ernest Clayton Alice Maude Beau	Thomas Ernest Clayton Alice Maude Bean 💍 1898/4596	Bachelor Spinster	Loommonger	25 22	Ashburton Allenton	10 years 20 years	Church of St. Stephen	98/4442	1 December 1898	Revd. Thos. A. Hamilton
1082	1 December 1898	Alfred William Brimmer Helen Reid Johnston	Alfred William Grimmer Helen Reid Johnston 💍 1898/4591	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	30 29	Christchurch Hinds	19 years 6 months	Private Dwelling of Mr. Ward Miller at Hinds	98/4437	7 December 1898	Revd. James Skinner
1083	7 December 1898	Henry Allmett Ellen Black	Henry Allnutt Ellen Black 💍 1898/4597	Bachelor Widow	Contractor	38 24	Allenton Allenton	16 years 4 months	Presbyterian Manse, Ashburton	98/4443	17 December 1898	Revd. Thos. A. Hamilton
1084	19 December 1898	Robert Frish Helen Margaret Sheehan	Robert Nish Helen Margaret Sheehan 💍 1898/4610	Bachelor Spinster	Ploughman Restaurant Keeper	29 27	Minchmore Ashburton	12 years 23 years	Presbyterian Manse, Ashburton	98/4439	19 December 1898	Revd. Geo. B. Inglis
1085	20 December 1898	John Milne Louisa Elizabeth Hawke	John Milmine Louisa Elizabeth Hawke 💍 1898/4592	Widower Spinster	Farmer	33 21	Lowercliffe Lowercliffe	3 days 6 years	Private Dwelling of Mr. Thos. Hawke, Lowercliffe	98/4438	20 December 1898	Revd. James Skinner
1086	20 December 1898	John Frederick Elton Mary Jane Gilchrist	John Frederick Elston Mary Jane Gilchrist 💍 1898/4609	Bachelor Widow	Baker	24 30	Tinwald Ashburton	4 months 7 years	Private Dwelling of Mr. Gilchrist at Ashburton	98/4431	20 December 1898	Revd. Geo. B. Inglis
1087	24 December 1898	Ronald Macdonald Annie Bowle	Donald Macdonald Annie Sawle 💍 1898/2635	Bachelor Spinster	Station Manager School Teacher	32 32	Ealing Ealing	4 years 4 years	Private Dwelling of James Campbell at Hinds	98/4434	24 December 1898	Revd. J. J. Mather
1088	27 December 1898	Ernest Alfred Prastittle Mary Pollock	Ernest Alfred Constable Mary Pollock 💍 1899/791	Bachelor Spinster	Coach Builder	27 22	Ashburton Ashburton	15 years 6 years	Private Dwelling of Mr. Polluck, Senr. at Ashburton	99/717	29 December 1898	Revd. R. Taylor

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 1898. More registers will be added when the Archives NZ Wellington reading room re-opens in September 2025.

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).