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 301

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 March 1899 Registrar Mard

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
1089	5 January 1899	William McDuff Alice Bennett	William McDuff Alice Bennett 💍 1899/785 William Pryde Amelia Bennett 💍 1900/694	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	23 21	Ashburton Tinwald	5 days 1 year	Presbyterian Church at Tinwald	99/711		5 January 1899	Revd. James Falconer
1090	11 January 1899	Edwin George Craighead Luenda Sophia Anderson	Edwin George Craighead Lucinda Sophia Anderson 💍 1899/806	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	24 23	Ashburton Tinwald	15 years 6 years	Presbyterian Church Ashburton	99/708		11 January 1899	Revd. Geo. B. Inglis
1091	23 January 1899	Robert Stanley Webber Isabella Margaret Wilson	Robert Stanley Webber Isabella Margaret Wilson 💍 1899/807	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	26 18	Hampstead Hampstead	2 years 10 months	Private Dwelling of Alfred James at Hampstead	99/709	Guardian	23 January 1899	Revd. Geo. B. Inglis
1092	4 February 1899	David O'Connor Ellen Scanlan	David O'Connor Ellen Scanlan 💍 1899/2410	Widower Spinster	Carpenter Domestic duties	40 40	Ashburton Ashburton	5 years 15 years	Roman Catholic Church at Ashburton	99/2352		4 February 1899	Revd. J. J. O'Donnell
1093	11 February 1899	Frederick Powell Rose Derrett	Frederick Powell Rose Derrett 💍 1899/788	Bachelor Spinster	Hotel-Keeper Superintendent	40 32	Ashburton Ashburton	6 days 4 years	Church of St. Stephen at Ashburton	99/714		11 February 1899	Revd. R. A. Woodthorpe
1094	25 February 1899	William John Smith Margaret Reid	William John Smith Margaret Reid 💍 1899/808	Bachelor Spinster	Railway Clerk Dressmaker	24 24	Tinwald Hampstead	15 years 2 years	Presbyterian Church Ashburton	99/710		25 February 1899	Revd. Geo. B. Inglis
1095	7 March 1899	Robert Rollinson Sarah Raines	Robert Rollinson Sarah Cairncross 💍 1899/786	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic duties	38 27	Tinwald Tinwald	3 days 20 years	Presbyterian Church Tinwald	99/712		7 March 1899	Revd. James Stainer
1096	7 March 1899	William Davison Alice Hawtins	William Davison Alice Hawkins 💍 1899/789	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 27	Willowby Willowby	9 years 20 years	St. Andrew's Church Tinwald	99/715		7 March 1899	Revd. R. A. Woodthorpe
1097	20 March 1899	Robert McIlraith Rachel Hood	Robert McIlraith Rachel Hood 💍 1899/804	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	23 23	Longbeach Ashburton	6 years 13 years	Registrar's Office Ashburton	99/706		20 March 1899	Mard, Registrar
1098	20 March 1899	Charles Francis Trew Martha Holland	Charles Francis Frew Martha Holland 💍 1899/787	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Labourer Home duties	22 21	Flemington Flemington	3 days 21 years	Private Residence of Samuel Holland at Flemington	99/718		20 March 1899	Revd. James Stainer
1099	20 March 1899	William Sears Batt Annie Wheeler	William Lewis Batt Annie Wheeler 💍 1899/790	Widower Spinster	Carpenter & Builder Boarding House Keeper	32 30	Ashburton Ashburton	9 months 25 years	St. Stephen's Church Ashburton	99/716		20 March 1899	Revd. R. A. Woodthorpe

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).