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 851

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 1899 Registrar J. W. Mackesson

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
253	12 June 1899	Frederic Henry Watson Clara Harkness	Frederic Henry Walter East Clara Starkiss 💍 1899/2228	Bachelor Spinster	Stationer Saleswoman	26 28	Christchurch Sydenham	26 years 28 years	St. Mary's Church, Christchurch	99/2158		12 June 1899	Rev. W. J. Beare, Anglican
254	13 June 1899	George Edgar Martha Kinkley Teague	George Falgar Martha Kirkby Teague 💍 1899/3824	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Machinist	25 26	Christchurch Christchurch	6 years 12 years	St. John's Church, Christchurch	99/3961		13 June 1899	Rev. H. E. M. Watson, Anglican
255	13 June 1899	John Pope Emily Clara Rhoda Munsell Pascoe	John Pope Emily Clara Rhoda Mursell Pascoe 💍 1899/2141	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	28 17	Christchurch Christchurch	22 years 9 months	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	99/2135	Hugh Pascoe, Father	13 June 1899	Registrar of Marriages, J. W. Mackesson
256	14 June 1899	Thomas McMillan Margaret Keile Melville Pirie	Thomas McMillan Margaret Keith Melville Pirie 💍 1899/2214	Widower Spinster	Plumber	27 23	Christchurch Christchurch	27 years 23 years	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	99/2136		14 June 1899	Registrar of Marriages, J. W. Mackesson
257	14 June 1899	Charles Potter Campbell Ethel Sewell Campbell	Charles Cotter Ethel Tereed Campbell 💍 1899/2258	Bachelor Spinster	Mechanic	23 19	Christchurch Springfield Road, St. Albans	23 years 19 years	House of Mr. J. F. Campbell, Springfield Road	99/2191	Edmund Sewell, Father	14 June 1899	Rev. Dr. Erwin, Presbyterian
258	15 June 1899	Walter Henry Palmer Jane Mitchell	Walter Henry Palmer Long Jane Mitchell 💍 1899/2257	Bachelor Spinster	Traveller	27 23	Christchurch North Opawa	3 days 23 years	House of Mrs. Mitchell	99/2190		15 June 1899	Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian
259	15 June 1899	David James Mackenzie Emily Frances Thomas	David James MacKenzie Emily Frances Thomas 💍 1899/2225	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	22 22	Christchurch Christchurch	1 week 2 months	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	99/2137		15 June 1899	Registrar of Marriages, J. W. Mackesson
260	15 June 1899	Henry Charles Woodcock Alice Helena Lucas	Henry Charles Woodcock Alice Helena Lucas 💍 1899/3455	Bachelor Spinster	Baker Domestic	29 29	Christchurch Christchurch	29 years 29 years	St. Michael's Church, Christchurch	99/3516		15 June 1899	Rev. E. A. Grace, Anglican

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).