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 793

District of Buller Quarter ending 30 June 1899 Registrar R. T. R. Register

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
789	4 April 1899	John Henry Paty Alice Smith	John Henry Patz Alice Smith 💍 1899/2810	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Domestic	32 22	Westport Westport	4 days 5 days	Registrar's Office, Westport	99/2690		4 April 1899	J. C. Dale, Deputy Registrar
790	13 April 1899	Hans Lawrence Larson Franattin Poole	Hans Lawrence Larsen Jean Atkin Poole 💍 1899/2054	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer Domestic	28 28	Westport Westport	20 years 15 years	Anglican Church, Westport	99/2009		13 April 1899	H. P. Coard
791	22 April 1899	James Samuelson Catherine Maud Fox	James Jamieson Charlotte Maud Fox 💍 1899/2055	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	22 24	Cape Foulwind Cape Foulwind	11 years 10 years	Residence of William Fox, Cape Foulwind	99/2010		22 April 1899	H. P. Coard
792	3 May 1899	Timothy O'Donnell Margaret McGuirly	Timothy O'Donnell Margaret McGinley 💍 1899/2072	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic	31 18	Coromandel Westport	11 years 1 month	Roman Catholic Church, Westport	99/2003	No person giving consent, but authority from Bishop	3 May 1899	Thomas Walshe
793	4 May 1899	Edward Kemp Emma Fox	Edward Kemp Emma Fox 💍 1899/2056	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	22 25	Cape Foulwind Cape Foulwind	2 years 10 years	Anglican Church, Westport	99/2011	Consent given	4 May 1899	H. P. Coard
794	6 May 1899	Patrick McReady Theresa Peters	Patrick McCready Theresa Peters 💍 1899/2073	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Domestic	30 20	Cape Foulwind Cape Foulwind	2 years 10 years	Roman Catholic Church, Westport	99/2004	John Peters, father	6 May 1899	Thomas Walshe
795	25 May 1899	Charles Joseph Perkins Bridget Helena Sullivan	Charles Joseph Perkins Bridget Helena Sullivan 💍 1899/2052	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Domestic	24 27	Addisons Addisons	2 years 27 years	Roman Catholic Church, Westport	99/2007		25 May 1899	Thomas Walshe
796	27 May 1899	Henry Michael Griffin Ellen Tennies Hilyard	Henry Michael Griffen Ellen Veronica Keily 💍 1899/2051	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer Domestic	27 25	Greymouth Westport	27 years 7 months	Roman Catholic Church, Westport	99/2006		27 May 1899	Thomas Walshe
797	29 May 1899	William George Riget Maud Catherine Pontgen	William Dixon McIver Maud Catherine Lennon 💍 1899/1078	Bachelor Spinster	Watchmaker Domestic	23 22	Westport Westport	3 years 22 years	Roman Catholic Church, Westport	99/2005		29 May 1899	Thomas Walshe
798	1 June 1899	Walter Watson Margaret Catherine Connolly	Walter Watson Margaret Catherine Connolly 💍 1899/2053	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Domestic	31 24	Runanga Westport	6 months 18 months	Roman Catholic Church, Westport	99/2008		1 June 1899	Thomas Walshe

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).