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 803

District of Motueka Quarter ending 30 June 1899 Registrar Joseph Foord Wilson

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
583	6 April 1899	Thomas Askew Louisa Scott	Thomas Askew Louisa Scott 💍 1899/2067	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Duties	30 20	Riwaka Riwaka	4 days 20 years	Presbyterian Church, Riwaka	99/2013	William Scott, Father	6 April 1899	Rev. Robert McClean, Presbyterian Minister
584	17 April 1899	Charles Leonard Goodman Alice Kemp	Charles Leonard Goodman Alice Kemp 💍 1899/2059	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	22 20	Motueka Lower Moutere	22 years 20 years	Registrar's Office, Motueka	99/2014	Benjamin Kemp, Father	17 April 1899	Joseph Foord Wilson, Registrar
585	10 May 1899	Frederick Augustus Bennell Hannah Te Urihi Paaka	Frederick Augustus Bennett Hannah Te Unuhi Mary Paaka 💍 1899/2065	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk in Holy Orders	26 19	Motueka Motueka	3 years 19 years	St. Thomas' Church, Motueka	99/2019	Huta Pamariki Paaka, Father	10 May 1899	Right Rev. Bishop of Nelson
586	22 May 1899	Walter Barrow Alice Martin	Walter Barrow Alice Martin 💍 1899/2060	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 20	Riwaka Orinoco	29 years 17 years	Registrar's Office, Motueka	99/2015	Charles Martin, Father	22 May 1899	Joseph Foord Wilson, Registrar
587	8 June 1899	John Delany Claris Snowden	John Delany Claris Snowden 💍 1899/2062	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 24	Ngatimoti Ngatimoti	27 years 7 days	Registrar's Office, Motueka	99/2016		8 June 1899	Joseph Foord Wilson, Registrar
588	12 June 1899	George William Lines Theresa Blanche McLean	George William Lines Theresa Blanche McLean 💍 1899/2063	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 25	Ngatimoti Riwaka	24 years 25 years	Registrar's Office, Motueka	99/2017		12 June 1899	Joseph Foord Wilson, Registrar
589	19 June 1899	Alfred Hall Emily Louisa Mary Krammer	Alfred Hall Emily Louisa Mary Krammer 💍 1899/2104	Bachelor Spinster	Printer Domestic Servant	28 22	Motueka Motueka	3 days 16 years	House of Mr. Cecil Herrick, Motueka	99/2059		19 June 1899	Rev. Arthur Ashcroft, Wesleyan Minister
590	27 June 1899	Robert Atkins Frances Rowling	Robert Atkins Frances Rowling 💍 1899/2064	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 21	Motueka Riwaka	23 years 21 years	Presbyterian Church, Riwaka	99/2018		27 June 1899	Rev. Robert McClean, Presbyterian Minister
591	27 June 1899	Karira Tahuaroa Jennie Riwai Tahunaroa	Te Karira Tahuaroa Tini Akiaha Tahumaroa 💍 1899/2066	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer	22 19		4 months 7 years	Ahurewa Maori Church, Motueka	99/2020	Karewa Riwai, Uncle	27 June 1899	Rev. Frederic Augustus Bennett, Church of England Minister

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).