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 703

District of Wellington 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	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
376	10 October 1898	Archibald Grierson Emily Helen Waters	Archibald Grierson Emily Helen Waters 💍 1898/5044	Bachelor Spinster	Fellmonger	24 24	Johnsonville Johnsonville	20 years 10 months	Church of England, Johnsonville	98/5087		10 October 1898	Revd John Wm Chapman
377	10 October 1898	James McBean Christina McKenzie	James Beer Margaret Vera McKenzie 💍 1898/2914	Bachelor Spinster	Boilermaker Machinist	37 26	Wellington Wellington	16 years 1 year	Residence of George Low, 15 Jacobs Place, Wellington	98/4272		10 October 1898	Revd J. K. Elliott
378	13 October 1898	George Washington Van Dyke Maud Jessie Constance Gillon	George Washington Van Slyke Maud Jessie Constance Gillon 💍 1898/5081	Widower Spinster	Physician & Surgeon	44 27	Wellington Wellington	14 months 27 months	The Terrace, Wellington	98/4977		13 October 1898	Revd C. S. Agg
379	13 October 1898	Montry William Adams Alice Maud Burn	Monty William Adams Maud Alice Burn 💍 1898/4575	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	23 20	Wellington Wellington	22 years 21 months	Residence of M. W. Adams, 7 Devon St, Wellington	98/4344	Philip Edward Burn, father	17 October 1898	Revd Jno Dawson
380	14 October 1898	Thomas George Kidham Euphemia Munro	Thomas George Needham Euphemia Munro 💍 1898/5091	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	26 36	Wellington Wellington	24 years 7 years	St Thomas Church, Wellington	98/4984		14 October 1898	Revd Otho Fitzgerald
381	14 October 1898	George Shall Wilson Elizabeth Iotiki	George Skull Wilson Elizabeth Potiki 💍 1898/3301	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	32 28	Henbmarn, Clutha Molyneux, Clutha	32 years 28 years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	98/4248		15 October 1898	F. W. Mansfield, Registrar
382	14 October 1898	David Le Compte Susan Hunt	David Le Compte Susan Hunt 💍 1898/3312	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 27	Christchurch Akaroa	25 years 27 years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	98/4249		15 October 1898	F. W. Mansfield, Registrar
383	17 October 1898	Edwin John Knight Catherine Mary Reardon	Edwin John Knight Catherine Mary Reardon 💍 1898/4581	Bachelor Spinster	Basil Dresser	27 23	Kaiwarra Wellington	9 years 3 years	St Marys of the Angels, Boulcott Street, Wellington	98/4327		17 October 1898	Revd John Ainsworth
384	17 October 1898	Albert Edward Gamaway Marion Clara Speedy	Albert Edward Gannaway Marion Clara Speedy 💍 1898/4578	Widower Spinster	Merchant	38 31	Lower Hutt Belmont	4 years 31 years	Knox Church, Lower Hutt	98/4347		17 October 1898	Revd Andrew Gray
385	20 October 1898	Alfred Armstrong Edith Emily Robertson	Alfred Mossong Edith Emily Robertson 💍 1898/3319	Bachelor Widow	Pastry Cook	30 27	Wellington Wellington	3 years 5 years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	98/4250		20 October 1898	F. W. Mansfield, 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 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).