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 783

District of Wairau Quarter ending 30 June 1899 Registrar W. J. Stanley

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
8	5 April 1899	Herbert Wynn Williams Madeline Maule	Herbert Wynn Williams Madeline Maule 💍 1899/2030	Bachelor Spinster	Gentleman	25 26	Blenheim Blenheim	4 months 4 months	Registrar's Office, Blenheim	99/1985		5 April 1899	W. J. Stanley, Registrar
9	6 April 1899	John Keating Mary Carrick	John Keating Mary Carrick 💍 1899/2038	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 37	Flaxbourne Flaxbourne	4 years 2 years	House of Mr. W. W. Clifford, Flaxbourne	99/1992		6 April 1899	Rev. W. D. Soggan
10	14 April 1899	Robert James Evington Georgina Maude Fear	Robert James Ewington Georgina Maud Fear 💍 1899/2031	Bachelor Spinster	Coachbuilder	21 21	Blenheim Blenheim	4 days 2 months	Registrar's Office, Blenheim	99/1986		14 April 1899	W. J. Stanley, Registrar
11	19 April 1899	William Matthews Ada Marion Macey	William Matthews Ada Marion Macey 💍 1899/2033	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 22	Spring Creek Blenheim	20 years 22 years	House of Mr. W. H. Macey, Blenheim	99/1988		19 April 1899	Rev. E. H. Ensor
12	21 April 1899	John William Charles Ward Mary North	John William Charles Ward Mary North 💍 1899/2032	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	21 22	Onamalutu Okaramio	12 years 15 years	Registrar's Office, Blenheim	99/1987		21 April 1899	W. J. Stanley, Registrar
13	25 April 1899	Aeneas Nercoe Elizabeth Grace Collins	Aeneas Vercoe Elizabeth Grace Collins 💍 1899/2039	Bachelor Spinster	Flaxmiller	34 22	Blenheim Blenheim	22 years 3 months	House of Mr. P. Nercoe, Springlands	99/1993		25 April 1899	Rev. W. Keall
14	25 April 1899	William Jones Carry Baldick	William Jones Carry Baldick 💍 1899/2803	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 16	Blenheim Blenheim	22 years 2 weeks	House of Mr. W. G. Attwood, Blenheim	99/2663	Geo. Baldick, father	25 April 1899	Rev. J. S. Grace
15	1 May 1899	Thomas Stall Agnes Boyce	Thomas Hall Agnes Boyce 💍 1899/2802	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	34 22	Spring Creek Ina Marina	18 years 22 years	House of Mr. J. Boyce, Ina Marina	99/2662		1 May 1899	Rev. R. J. Alloworth
16	1 May 1899	John Newman Louisa Walker	John Newman Louisa Walker 💍 1899/2037	Bachelor Widow	Shepherd	33 44	Inglewood Renwicktown	33 years 20 years	House of Mr. R. Forbes, Renwick	99/1991		1 May 1899	Rev. W. D. Soggan
17	6 May 1899	Samuel Edward Ford Emma Gifford	Samuel Edward Ford Emma Gifford 💍 1899/2040	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	38 33	Spring Creek Spring Creek	19 years 33 years	Wesleyan Church, Spring Creek	99/1994		6 May 1899	Rev. W. Keall
18	12 May 1899	Lamitz Schwass Mary Ann Robinson	Lauritz Schwass Mary Ann Robinson 💍 1899/2804	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	32 22	Springlands Marshlands	15 years 22 years	Church of England, Blenheim	99/2664		12 May 1899	Rev. J. S. Grace
19	12 May 1899	Charles William Symons Christina W. Lauchlan	Charles William Symons Christina McLauchlan 💍 1899/2035	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	45 33	Blenheim Blenheim	3 days 33 years	House of Mr. W. Lauchlan, Blenheim	99/1990		12 May 1899	Rev. W. U. Robb

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).