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 236

District of WELLINGTON Quarter ending 31 March 1899 Registrar FREDERICK WILLIAM MANSFIELD

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
21	11 January 1899	James Reid Alice Maude Mason	James Reid Alice Maud Mason 💍 1899/1936	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	37 19	Wellington Wellington	12 yrs 19 yrs	Registrars Office Wellington		Not Proceeded with
22	11 January 1899	Henry Chancy Ellen Taylor	Henry Chaney Ellen Taylor 💍 1899/773	Widower Spinster	Laundress	50 22	Wellington Wellington	29 yrs 20 yrs	Residence of Mr Doncaster 62 Adelaide Rd Wellington	99/692	11 January 1899	Revd. James Paterson
23	12 January 1899	William Collings Jane Pearse	William Collings Jane Pearse 💍 1899/541	Bachelor Widow	Woolsorter	36 33	Petone Petone	8 yrs 2 yrs	Registrars Office Wellington	99/508	12 January 1899	F.W. Mansfield, Registrar
24	13 January 1899	John Joseph Casey Maud Mary Urwin	John Joseph Casey Maud Mary Urwin 💍 1899/462	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	23 22	Wellington Wellington	23 yrs 22 yrs	St Marys of the Angels Boulcott St. Wellington	99/549	13 January 1899	Revd Thos. Devoy
25	13 January 1899	James McCarthy Elizabeth Cudby	James McCarthy Elizabeth Cudby 💍 1899/702	Bachelor Spinster	Furnaceman	30 35	Wellington Wellington	6 yrs 3 yrs	Roman Catholic Church Upper Hutt	99/596	13 January 1899	Revd John Lane
26	14 January 1899	Albert Martin Evelyn Annie Rose	Albert Martin Evelyn Annie Rose 💍 1899/1281	Bachelor Spinster	Medical Practitioner	38 24	Wellington Wellington	28 yrs 24 yrs	St Pauls Pro Cathedral Wellington	99/175	14 January 1899	Revd T.H. Sprott
27	17 January 1899	Martin Marsden Sarah Jane Cardiff	Martin Marsden Sarah Jane Cardiff Pfaff 💍 1899/542	Widower Spinster	Accountant	26 22	Napier Napier	3 yrs 5 mos	Registrars Office Wellington	99/509	17 January 1899	F.W. Mansfield, Registrar
28	18 January 1899	William Henry Davies Esther Florence Richardson	William Henry Davies Esther Florence Richardson 💍 1899/543	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	32 25	Brooklyn Brooklyn	1 yr 19 yrs	Registrars Office Wellington	99/510	18 January 1899	F.W. Mansfield, Registrar
29	18 January 1899	John McGarry Margaret Caseby	John McGarry Margaret Caseby 💍 1899/544	Bachelor Spinster	Slater	42 37	Wellington Wellington	12 mos 6 yrs	Registrars Office Wellington	99/511	18 January 1899	F.W. Mansfield, Registrar
30	18 January 1899	Arthur Robert Alpe Rose Mary Charman	Arthur Robert Alpe Rose Mary Charman 💍 1899/693	Bachelor Spinster	Tobacconist	25 21	Wellington Wellington	4 yrs 7 yrs	Residence of Revd Chas Dallaston Wellington	99/588	18 January 1899	Revd Chas Dallaston

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).