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 302

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 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
397	14 September 1898	Robert Fletcher Curragh Esther Hampton	Robert Fletcher Curraghs Esther Hampton 💍 1898/4018	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic	29 23	Templeton Freetown	29 years 23 years	Wesleyan Church	98/3267		14 September 1898	Rev. J. A. Lochore, Wesleyan
398	14 September 1898	Frederick Alexander Hobbs Eliza Jane Skuday	Frederick Alexander Hobbs Eliza Jane McAuley Lehrs 💍 1898/3901	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	25 19	Papanui Christchurch	5 months 2 years	Trinity House of God, St. Asaph Street	98/3216	James Gilmore, brother	14 September 1898	Rev. J. Orchard, Wesleyan
399	14 September 1898	Alfred Harry Paine Rose Spring	Alfred D'Arcy Paine Violet Spring 💍 1898/4054	Bachelor Spinster	Toolmaker	25 27	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 1 year	St. Peters Church	98/3279		14 September 1898	Rev. S. J. P. Gould, Anglican
400	14 September 1898	Hiram Hunter Jane Bayliss	Hiram Hunter Jane Bayliss 💍 1898/3868	Bachelor Spinster	Teamster Domestic	24 22	Sydenham Christchurch	24 years 19 years	Registrar's Office	98/3173		14 September 1898	Registrar of Marriages, M. Macleeson
401	14 September 1898	Harold Edward Bellhouse Mary Eliza Turner	Harold Edward Bellhouse Mary Eliza Turner 💍 1898/3910	Bachelor Spinster	Minister	28 32	St. Albans St. Albans	8 days 10 years	Wesleyan Church	98/3202		14 September 1898	Rev. W. Lee, Wesleyan
402	15 September 1898	Thomas Wiltshire Agnes Jane Scott	Thomas Wiltshire Hix Agnes Jane Scott 💍 1898/3908	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	24 22	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 4 years	House of Rev. J. J. Boke, Worcester Street	98/3200		15 September 1898	Rev. J. J. Boke, Baptist
403	16 September 1898	William Henry Rumble & Mona Elizabeth Annie Reeves	William Henry Gunblett Moore Elizabeth Annie Reeves 💍 1898/3869	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner Domestic	22 22	Christchurch Christchurch	10 days 10 days	Registrar's Office	98/3174		16 September 1898	Registrar of Marriages, M. Macleeson
404	16 September 1898	Walter Seales Edith Hart	Walter Scales Edith Hart 💍 1898/3051	Bachelor Spinster	Commission Agent	37 26	Sumner Christchurch	1 year 26 years	Horell Brickyard, Carlton Hill Road	98/3243		16 September 1898	Rev. R. Erwin, 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 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).