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 849

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 1899 Registrar J. M. Henderson

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
238	31 May 1899	George Aitkenhead Elsie Forbes J Kane	George Aikenhead Elsie Forbes Skene 💍 1899/2194	Bachelor Spinster	Machine Expert Domestic	33 27	Christchurch Christchurch	3 months 5 years	House of Rev R. Scott Allan, Harper St, Sydenham	99/2166		31 May 1899	Rev R. Scott Allan, Anglican
239	1 June 1899	William Major Carrie Tait	William Major Carrie Tait 💍 1899/3576	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 20	Christchurch Christchurch	24 years 3 days	St Pauls Church	99/3530	Samuel Fullerton, father	1 June 1899	Rev F. Glendie, Presbyterian
240	2 June 1899	Herbert Stanley Rose Louisa Lavinia Whitley	Herbert Stanley Rose Louisa Lavinia Whitley 💍 1899/2248	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	25 24	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 24 years	House of Mr. G. J. Whitley, Armagh St	99/2204		2 June 1899	Rev E. Ward, Methodist
241	2 June 1899	Francis Ion Cowlishaw Katie Marriott Watson	Francis Jon Cowlishaw Katie Marriott Watson 💍 1899/2719	Bachelor Spinster	Solicitor	29 29	Avonside Christchurch	19 years 20 years	St Johns Church	99/2679		2 June 1899	Rev H. E. W. Watson, Anglican
242	3 June 1899	Frank Thompson Howard Lucy Alice	Frank Thompson Lucy Alice Howard 💍 1899/2184	Bachelor Spinster	Land Agent Teacher	26 27	Christchurch Christchurch	10 years 17 years	Wesleyan Church, East Belt	99/3180		3 June 1899	Rev E. H. Laws, Wesleyan
243	3 June 1899	Albert George Williams Minnie Grace Hines Harwood	Albert George Williams Minnie Dora Harris Harwood 💍 1899/2686	Bachelor Spinster	Creamery Manager Domestic	33 21	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 3 years	House of Mrs Pease, Woolston	99/2785		3 June 1899	Rev J. W. Newbold, Wesleyan
244	5 June 1899	William Dougall Newsham West Elizabeth Cerdyno Piltcher	William Dougall Newsham West Elizabeth Ordyno Piltcher 💍 1899/2294	Bachelor Widow	Laborer Domestic	34 39	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 4 days	Wesleyan Parsonage, Chester St	99/2212		5 June 1899	Rev W. Baumber, Wesleyan

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).