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 044

District of Drury Quarter ending 31 March 1899 Registrar Samuel Walker

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
1	2 January 1899	Thomas Dennis Macklow Clara Calvert	Thomas Dennis Macklow Clara Calvert 💍 1899/283	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	35 23	Papakura Papakura	3 days 6 years	House of Joseph Calvert	99/95		2 January 1899	Revd O R Hewlett, Church of England
2	4 January 1899	Michael Walter Geraghty Mary Hannah Gall	Michael Walter Geraghty Mary Hannah East 💍 1899/500	Widower Spinster	Flax dresser	24 22	Auckland Pukekohe	17 years 5 years	R. C. Chapel, Pukekohe	99/194		4 January 1899	Revd J. L. Ahern, R. C. C.
3	4 January 1899	Joseph Rosser Sarah Jane Cossey	Joseph Rosser Sarah Jane Cossey 💍 1899/5373	Bachelor Spinster	Millhand	29 25	Papakura Drury	2 years 18 years	House of Jas. F. Cossey, Drury	99/143		4 January 1899	Revd F. B. Oldham, Wesleyan Meth.
4	17 January 1899	Francis Edward Ferguson Weir Alice Black	Francis Edward Ferguson Weir Alice Black 💍 1899/284	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	26 26	Papakura Papakura	3 days 3 years	Anglican Church, Papakura	99/216		17 January 1899	Revd E. M. Cowie, Church of England
5	19 January 1899	Alfred Evans Catherine Watson	Alfred Evans Catherine Watson 💍 1899/498	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 21	Bombay Bombay	19 years 16 years	House of Thomas Watson, Bombay	99/191		19 January 1899	Revd Thos. Norrie, Presbyterian Min.
6	21 January 1899	Ralph Thomas Hill Elizabeth Davidson Fitness	Ralph Thomas Hill Elizabeth Davidson Fitness 💍 1899/497	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 20	Whangarei Whangarei	5 years 16 years	Registrar's Office, Drury	99/100	Margaret Fitness, mother	31 January 1899	Saml Walker, Regr of Marriages
7	8 February 1899	William Crosbie Elizabeth Clements	William Crosbie Elizabeth Clements 💍 1899/499 George William Bosley Elizabeth Lily Clements 💍 1899/54	Widower Widow	Farmer	55 45	Pokeno Bombay	20 years 14 years	House of Elizabeth Clements, Bombay	99/192		8 February 1899	Revd C. F. Findlay, Presbyterian Min.
8	14 February 1899	William John Imbar Sharp Elizabeth Cornthwaite	William John Dunbar Sharp Elizabeth Comthwaite 💍 1899/516	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 25	Rama Rama Bombay	1 year 18 years	House of Wm Cornthwaite, Bombay	99/186		14 February 1899	Revd F. B. Dobson, Church of England
9	21 February 1899	Charles McCartney Marionette Morgan	Charles McCartney Miginionette Morgan 💍 1899/494	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Dressmaker	23 30	Pukekohe Pukekohe	3 days 3 years	House of Robert Morgan, Pukekohe	99/187		21 February 1899	Revd F. B. Dobson, Church of England
10	11 March 1899	Frederic John Virgin Margaret Crotherspoon Muir	Frederic John Virgin Margaret Wotherspoon Muir 💍 1899/515	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	40 28	Papakura Valley Papakura Valley	4 days 18 years	House of Jas Muir, Papakura Valley	99/185		11 March 1899	D J Steele, Revd Thos. Norrie, Presbyterian Min.
11	21 March 1899	Benjamin Hardy Martha Nealie	Benjamin Hardy Martha Nealie 💍 1899/1629	Bachelor Spinster	Draper's Asst. Maker	21 22	Papakura Papakura	3 days 14 years	House of Mary Nealie, Papakura	99/459		21 March 1899	Revd Thos. Norrie, Presbyterian Min.

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).