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 294

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
336	30 July 1898	Edward Enge Gardiner Mary Louisa Sleeman	Edward George Gardiner Mary Louisa Sleeman 💍 1898/3898	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener	22 20	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 8 years	House of William Sleeman, Luan Street, Christchurch	98/3213	William Sleeman, Father	30 July 1898	Rev. I. Orchard, Wesleyan
337	1 August 1898	Thomas Ross Berry Amelia Grace Hudson	Thomas Ross Berry Amelia Grace Hudson 💍 1898/3119	Bachelor Spinster	Fruiterer School Teacher	21 22	Christchurch Christchurch	15 years 15 years	Registrars Office, Christchurch	98/3164		1 August 1898	Registrar J. M. Parkesson
338	1 August 1898	Milson Frank Jones Elizabeth Jane Howison	Milson Frank Jones Elizabeth Jane Howison 💍 1898/3052	Bachelor Spinster	Fruiterer Shop Assist.	21 20	Christchurch Christchurch	17 years 20 years	Presbyterian Church, Colombo Street, Sydenham	98/3274	William Archibald Howison, Father	1 August 1898	Rev. R. Scott, Presbyterian
339	3 August 1898	Thomas Nunweek Louisa Jane Monkman	Thomas Nunweek Louisa Jane Markman 💍 1898/4073 Thomas Hayman Louisa Jane Moore 💍 1898/1893	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	33 26	Paparua Riccarton	33 years 26 years	Church of St. Peter, Riccarton	98/3276		3 August 1898	Rev. W. T. P. Winter, Church of England
340	3 August 1898	John Lawrence Withers Edith Charlotte Ledsham	John Lawrence Withers Edith Charlotte Ledsham 💍 1898/3057	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	31 20	Opawa Christchurch	20 years 20 years	Holy Trinity Church, Avonside	98/3226	William Ledsham, Father	3 August 1898	Rev. W. A. Pascoe, Avonside
341	4 August 1898	Andrew Murray Mary Kennedy	Andrew Mundz Mary Kennedy 💍 1898/3050	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	29 20	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 20 years	Presbyterian Manse, Fendalton	98/3242	Anthony Kennedy, Father	4 August 1898	Rev. D. Erwin, Presbyterian
342	4 August 1898	John William Austin Edie Maud Rich	John William Austin Edie Maud Rich 💍 1898/3120	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner Domestic	29 23	Christchurch Christchurch	1 week 1 week	Registrars Office, Christchurch	98/3165		4 August 1898	Registrar J. M. Parkesson

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).