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 667

District of Dannevirke Quarter ending 30 June 1899 Registrar William James Walsh

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
4	13 April 1899	Alexander John Spence Edith Jane Warren	Alexander John Spence Edith Jane Warren 💍 1899/1807 Alexander Jones Lillian Maude Warren 💍 1900/579	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	30 25	Dannevirke Dannevirke	2 years 14 months	Rev. E. Eldridge's dwelling house	99/1682		13 April 1899	Rev. E. Eldridge, Presbyterian
8	20 April 1899	Carl Oskar Jonasson Alice Elizabeth Cassidy	Carl Oscar Jonasson Alice Elizabeth Cassidy 💍 1899/1808	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	30 18	Dannevirke Dannevirke	3 weeks 3 months	Mrs Alice Hildred's private house, Stanley St	99/1683	Alice Hildred, mother	20 April 1899	Rev. E. Eldridge, Presbyterian
9	21 April 1899	John Houlahan Mary Gertrude Reagle	John Houlahan Mary Gertrude Neagle 💍 1899/1698	Bachelor Spinster	Railway Porter	23 25	Dannevirke Dannevirke	18 months 2 years	Roman Catholic Church	99/1689		21 April 1899	Rev. W. McGrath, Catholic
10	26 April 1899	Harry Moller Lily Austin	Harry Noller Lily Austin 💍 1899/1810	Bachelor Spinster	Sawmill employee	31 22	Dannevirke Dannevirke	12 years 14 months	W. Harrigan's private house, Tahoraite	99/1684		26 April 1899	Rev. E. Eldridge, Presbyterian
11	12 May 1899	William Vincent Soverby Charlotte Ann Sinclair	William Vincent Sowerby Charlotte Ann Sinclair 💍 1899/1811	Bachelor Widow	Labourer Nurse	35 35	Dannevirke Dannevirke	2 years 18 months	Mrs Sinclair's dwelling house	99/1685		12 May 1899	Rev. E. Eldridge, Presbyterian
12	16 May 1899	George Humphries Nellie Hamlin	George Humphries Nellie Hamlin 💍 1899/1812	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 24	Dannevirke Dannevirke	3 days 7 days	Presbyterian Church	99/1686		16 May 1899	Rev. E. Eldridge, Presbyterian
13	22 June 1899	William Bell Crooks Maud Mary Hillman	William Bell Crooks Maude Mary Hillman 💍 1899/1716	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 25	Dannevirke Dannevirke	1 year 2 weeks	Roman Catholic Church	99/1691		22 June 1899	Rev. Thomas F. Cahill, Catholic
14	26 June 1899	Fred Craven Mary Amundsen	Fred Craven Mary Amundsen 💍 1899/1814	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	27 23	Dannevirke Dannevirke	3 years 23 years	Church of England	99/1688		26 June 1899	Rev. E. Robertshawe, Anglican
15	26 June 1899	John Brogan Mary Michalek	John Bogan Mary Michalek 💍 1899/1709	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	26 19	Dannevirke Dannevirke	8 years 3 years	Mrs A. Michalek's dwelling, Tahoraite	99/1690	Anton Michalek, father	26 June 1899	Rev. E. Eldridge, Presbyterian
16	28 June 1899	William Joseph Spachman Edith Emma Immisod	William Joseph Spackman Edith Emma Grimwood 💍 1899/1813	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	26 19	Dannevirke Dannevirke	2 years 7 years	Mr Jas. Immisod's dwelling	99/1687	Jas. Immisod, father	28 June 1899	Rev. E. Eldridge, Presbyterian

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).