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 562

District of Helensville Quarter ending 30 June 1899 Registrar D.A. Wright

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

8 May 1899

Harry Spinley
Elizabeth Dourne Spinley

Harry Spinley
Elizabeth Downer
💍 1899/1485

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic

33 years
27

Helensville
Helensville

15 years
15 years

Residence of M. Downer, Helensville

99/1488

8 May 1899

Rev. W. Mills

No	25
Date of Notice	8 May 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Spinley	Elizabeth Dourne Spinley
BDM Match (79%)	Harry Spinley	Elizabeth Downer
	💍 1899/1485
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic
Age	33 years	27
Dwelling Place	Helensville	Helensville
Length of Residence	15 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Residence of M. Downer, Helensville
Folio	99/1488
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 May 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Mills

13 May 1899

Henry Alford Hooper
Margaret Fisher Jardine

Henry Alfred Hooper
Margaret Fisher Gardner
💍 1899/1482

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic

24 years
23

Makaran
Glorit

14 years
14 years

Residence of Chas. Jardine, Glorit

99/1485

13 May 1899

Mr. Robt. Laing

No	26
Date of Notice	13 May 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Alford Hooper	Margaret Fisher Jardine
BDM Match (88%)	Henry Alfred Hooper	Margaret Fisher Gardner
	💍 1899/1482
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic
Age	24 years	23
Dwelling Place	Makaran	Glorit
Length of Residence	14 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Chas. Jardine, Glorit
Folio	99/1485
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1899
Officiating Minister	Mr. Robt. Laing

1 June 1899

Frank Evans
Catherine Mary Richards known as Cameron

Frank Evans
Catherine Mary Richards Cameron
💍 1899/1483

Spinster

Clerk
Music Teacher

29
21 years

Helensville
Helensville

14 years
14 years

Residence of R.M. Cameron, Helensville

99/1486

1 June 1899

Mr. Robt. Laing

No	27
Date of Notice	1 June 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Evans	Catherine Mary Richards known as Cameron
BDM Match (89%)	Frank Evans	Catherine Mary Richards Cameron
	💍 1899/1483
Condition		Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Music Teacher
Age	29	21 years
Dwelling Place	Helensville	Helensville
Length of Residence	14 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Residence of R.M. Cameron, Helensville
Folio	99/1486
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 June 1899
Officiating Minister	Mr. Robt. Laing

3 June 1899

John Macnaughton
Eleanor Mary Entwisle

John Macnaughton
Eleanor Mary Entwistle
💍 1899/1486

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

33 years
33 years

Parnellhurst Auckland
Te Pua (Kaipara)

2 years
3 years

Public School Building, Te Pua

99/1489

3 June 1899

Rev. W. Wills

No	28
Date of Notice	3 June 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Macnaughton	Eleanor Mary Entwisle
BDM Match (98%)	John Macnaughton	Eleanor Mary Entwistle
	💍 1899/1486
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	33 years	33 years
Dwelling Place	Parnellhurst Auckland	Te Pua (Kaipara)
Length of Residence	2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Public School Building, Te Pua
Folio	99/1489
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 June 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Wills

4 June 1899

Charles Edward Bernard
Evelyn Alice Manning

Charles Edward Bernard
Evelyn Alice Manning
💍 1899/1488

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman
Household Duties

26
22 years

Ngaruawahia
Helensville

7 years
7 years

St. Mathews Church, Helensville

99/1490

4 June 1899

Rev. P.C.W. Earle

No	29
Date of Notice	4 June 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edward Bernard	Evelyn Alice Manning
	💍 1899/1488
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman	Household Duties
Age	26	22 years
Dwelling Place	Ngaruawahia	Helensville
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St. Mathews Church, Helensville
Folio	99/1490
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. P.C.W. Earle

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).