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 396

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1899 Registrar William Joseph Hall

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

11 March 1899

Stewart McCombe
Harriet Hall

Stewart McCombe
Harriet Hall
💍 1899/1011

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

24
24

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
1 month

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages

99/917

11 March 1899

M. J. Hall, Registrar of Marriages

No	80
Date of Notice	11 March 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stewart McCombe	Harriet Hall
	💍 1899/1011
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	1 month
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	99/917
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1899
Officiating Minister	M. J. Hall, Registrar of Marriages

13 March 1899

Duncan Byers
Alice Maud Mary Yates

Duncan Byers
Alice Maud Mary Yates
💍 1899/957

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

23
23

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
5 months

In the house of John Baxter White, Grange Street

99/939

13 March 1899

Rev. W. Hewitson, Presbyterian Minister

No	81
Date of Notice	13 March 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Duncan Byers	Alice Maud Mary Yates
	💍 1899/957
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	5 months
Marriage Place	In the house of John Baxter White, Grange Street
Folio	99/939
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Hewitson, Presbyterian Minister

14 March 1899

John Robert Brookes
Catherine Lee

John Robert Brookes
Catherine Lee
💍 1899/1012

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor

32
31

Dunedin
Dunedin

14 years
31 years

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages

99/918

14 March 1899

M. J. Hall, Registrar of Marriages

No	82
Date of Notice	14 March 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Robert Brookes	Catherine Lee
	💍 1899/1012
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	14 years	31 years
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	99/918
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1899
Officiating Minister	M. J. Hall, Registrar of Marriages

15 March 1899

John Daniel Woods
Florence Adeline Seabrook

John Daniel Woods
Florence Adeline Seabrook
💍 1899/1317

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

24
26

Dunedin
Dunedin

24 years
3 days

In St. Joseph's Cathedral

99/1235

15 March 1899

Rev. D. Murphy, Roman Catholic Priest

No	83
Date of Notice	15 March 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Daniel Woods	Florence Adeline Seabrook
	💍 1899/1317
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	24 years	3 days
Marriage Place	In St. Joseph's Cathedral
Folio	99/1235
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Murphy, Roman Catholic Priest

15 March 1899

William Richard Smith
Helena Maud Fish

William Richard Smith
Helena Maud Fish
💍 1899/2514

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

24
25

Dunedin
Dunedin

24 years
16 years

In the house of Mrs. Margaret Fish, Princes Street

99/3482

15 March 1899

Rev. A. North, Baptist Minister

No	84
Date of Notice	15 March 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Richard Smith	Helena Maud Fish
	💍 1899/2514
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	24 years	16 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs. Margaret Fish, Princes Street
Folio	99/3482
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. North, Baptist Minister

16 March 1899

Reginald Thompson
Annie Bastings

Reginald Thompson
Annie Bastings
💍 1899/1013

Widower
Widow

Stationer

48
50

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 days
20 years

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages

99/919

16 March 1899

M. J. Hall, Registrar of Marriages

No	85
Date of Notice	16 March 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Thompson	Annie Bastings
	💍 1899/1013
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Stationer
Age	48	50
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 days	20 years
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	99/919
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1899
Officiating Minister	M. J. Hall, Registrar of Marriages

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).