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 309

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1899 Registrar J. Patterson

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

25 January 1899

John Duthie Back
Laura Rogers

John Duthie
Laura Rogers
💍 1899/933

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

28
26

Christchurch
Opawa

28 years
26 years

St. Marks Church

99/821

25 January 1899

Ven Arch Cholmondeley, Anglican

No	45
Date of Notice	25 January 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Duthie Back	Laura Rogers
BDM Match (84%)	John Duthie	Laura Rogers
	💍 1899/933
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Opawa
Length of Residence	28 years	26 years
Marriage Place	St. Marks Church
Folio	99/821
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1899
Officiating Minister	Ven Arch Cholmondeley, Anglican

27 January 1899

John Shier
Matilda McRae

John Shier
Matilda McRae
💍 1899/648

Bachelor
Widow

Jeweller

28
37

Christchurch
Christchurch

17 years
37 years

Registrar's Office

99/729

27 January 1899

Registrar Morrison

No	46
Date of Notice	27 January 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Shier	Matilda McRae
	💍 1899/648
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Jeweller
Age	28	37
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	17 years	37 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	99/729
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1899
Officiating Minister	Registrar Morrison

28 January 1899

William Fraser
Mary Jessie Stevens

William Fraser
Mary Jessie Steven
💍 1899/868

Widower
Spinster

Grain Merchant

67
39

Christchurch
Linwood

30 years
15 years

House of Mr. J. Stevens

99/756

28 January 1899

Rev. J. Orchard, Wesleyan

No	47
Date of Notice	28 January 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Fraser	Mary Jessie Stevens
BDM Match (97%)	William Fraser	Mary Jessie Steven
	💍 1899/868
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Grain Merchant
Age	67	39
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Linwood
Length of Residence	30 years	15 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. J. Stevens
Folio	99/756
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Orchard, Wesleyan

28 January 1899

Cecil Wilson
Alice Ethel Julius

Cecil Wilson
Alice Ethel Julius
💍 1899/3563

Bachelor
Spinster

Bishop of Melanesia

38
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 month
9 years

Cathedral

99/3542

28 January 1899

Very Rev. Dean Jacobs, Anglican

No	48
Date of Notice	28 January 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Wilson	Alice Ethel Julius
	💍 1899/3563
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bishop of Melanesia
Age	38	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 month	9 years
Marriage Place	Cathedral
Folio	99/3542
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1899
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean Jacobs, Anglican

31 January 1899

Alfred James Todd
Alice May Pattrick

Alfred James Dodd
Alice Mary Pattrick
💍 1899/875

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Domestic

22
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 years
4 months

House of Wm. Sullivan, Polambo Road, Christchurch

99/757

31 January 1899

Rev. J. Orchard, Wesleyan

No	49
Date of Notice	31 January 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred James Todd	Alice May Pattrick
BDM Match (94%)	Alfred James Dodd	Alice Mary Pattrick
	💍 1899/875
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Domestic
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years	4 months
Marriage Place	House of Wm. Sullivan, Polambo Road, Christchurch
Folio	99/757
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Orchard, Wesleyan

31 January 1899

William Francis Tait
Annie Gertrude Lake

William Francis Tait
Annie Gertrude Lake
💍 1899/850

Bachelor
Spinster

Traveller

31
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

31 years
23 years

St. Michaels Church

99/782

31 January 1899

Rev. A. W. Averill, Anglican

No	50
Date of Notice	31 January 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Francis Tait	Annie Gertrude Lake
	💍 1899/850
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Traveller
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	31 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Michaels Church
Folio	99/782
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. W. Averill, Anglican

31 January 1899

William Wade Daly
Christina Mary Hibbs

William Bede Daly
Christina Mary Stibbs
💍 1899/1160

Bachelor
Spinster

38
30

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 months
1 week

St. Mary's Church, Manchester Street

99/1204

31 January 1899

Rev. M. Marnane, Roman Catholic

No	51
Date of Notice	31 January 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Wade Daly	Christina Mary Hibbs
BDM Match (89%)	William Bede Daly	Christina Mary Stibbs
	💍 1899/1160
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession
Age	38	30
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 months	1 week
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Manchester Street
Folio	99/1204
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Marnane, Roman Catholic

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 1903. 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).