Intentions to Marry, 1899 January-June

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840415, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington (now located in the National Library reading room), September 5 2025

1899 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 020

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1899 Registrar Thomas Culpan

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
120	24 February 1899	Alexander Wishart Webster Jessie Finch	Alexander Wishart Webster Jessie Finch 💍 1899/164	Bachelor Spinster	Steward Bookbinder	24 26	Auckland Auckland	14 yrs 26 yrs	Wesleyan Church, Kingsland	99/116		24 February 1899	Rev. J. G. Chapman, Wesleyan
121	24 February 1899	Charles Wilson Sophie Annie Caroline Sack	Charles Wilson Sophie Annie Caroline Sack 💍 1899/144	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	39 34	Whangarei Waikomiti	13 yrs 3 yrs	Church of England, Mount Albert	99/94		24 February 1899	Rev. F. Larkins, Church of England
122	25 February 1899	Edward Sweeney Josephine Annie De Lucca	Edward Sweeney Josephine Annie De Lucca 💍 1899/43	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	22 17	Auckland Auckland	19 yrs 17 yrs	Registrar's Office, Auckland	99/37	Dominic De Lucca, father	25 February 1899	T. Culpan, Deputy Registrar
123	27 February 1899	Arthur Billington Annie Synas	Arthur Cullington Annie Lynas 💍 1899/46	Widower Spinster	Gardener	45 29	Remuera Remuera	5 yrs 5 yrs	Registrar's Office, Auckland	99/40		27 February 1899	T. Culpan, Deputy Registrar
124	28 February 1899	Frederick Hussey Annie Scott Robertson	Fredrick Hussey Annie Scott Robertson 💍 1899/200	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	37 28	Auckland Auckland	6 yrs 28 yrs	Presbyterian Church, Mangere	99/151		28 February 1899	Rev. John Macdonald, Presbyterian
125	28 February 1899	Edward Jensen Laura Jessie Ellis	Edward Jensen Laura Jessie Ellis 💍 1899/311	Bachelor Spinster	Engine driver	21 21	Auckland Auckland	2 yrs 12 yrs	House of Mother of Bride, Nelson St, Auckland	99/68		28 February 1899	Rev. R. F. Macnicol, Presbyterian
126	28 February 1899	Robert Myers Herd Lucy Coombe	Robert Myers Herd Lucy Coombe 💍 1899/48	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	29 22	Opitonui Auckland	2 weeks 5 yrs	Registrar's Office, Auckland	99/42		28 February 1899	T. Culpan, Deputy Registrar
127	28 February 1899	John Arthur Cramond Elizabeth Alice Kjer	John Arthur Cramond Elizabeth Alice Kjer 💍 1899/312	Widower Widow	Accountant	68 36	Auckland Auckland	29 yrs 14 yrs	House of the Bridegroom, Paget street, Auckland	99/69		28 February 1899	Rev. R. F. Macnicol

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 1899. 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).