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 854

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 1899 Registrar J. Mallinson

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
269	23 June 1899	Hugh Carr Harriet Louisa Mason	Hugh Carr Harriet Louisa Magon 💍 1899/3797	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	26 25	Greenpark Halswell	6 years 4 years	St. Andrews Church Chch	99/3952		23 June 1899	Rev. G. Webster, Presbyterian
270	23 June 1899	James Radley Ronald Louise Watson Widow	James Eadie Donald Louise Matson 💍 1899/2219	Bachelor Widow		29 31	Christchurch Christchurch	14 years 12 years	St. Michaels Church Chch	99/2149		23 June 1899	Rev. C. A. Fraser, Anglican
271	23 June 1899	Charles Bowman Sarah Hill	Charles Bowmar Sarah Hill 💍 1899/2229	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic	43 24	Christchurch Christchurch	2 months 11 months	St. Marys Church Addington	99/2159		23 June 1899	Rev. W. J. Bean, Anglican
272	24 June 1899	Leopold Grey Ellen Palmer	Leopold Gray Ellen Palmer 💍 1899/2231	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Domestic	24 24	Christchurch Christchurch	26 years 24 years	House of Mr. H. Burgess Chch	99/2161		24 June 1899	Rev. J. Hosking, Wesleyan
273	24 June 1899	Antonio Rogatole Margaret Schumannski	Antonio Rogatski Margaret Shumanski 💍 1899/2286	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 19	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 19 years	Roman Catholic Church Manchester St. Chch	99/2222	Father	24 June 1899	Rev. W. J. Marnane, Roman Catholic
274	24 June 1899	George Hodgkinson Amy Davidson	George Hodgkinson Amy Davidson 💍 1899/2260	Bachelor Spinster	Stockman Domestic	29 23	Christchurch Christchurch	29 years 23 years	Presbyterian Church North Belt Chch	99/2193		24 June 1899	Rev. Dr. Erwin, Presbyterian
275	26 June 1899	Robert Laurie Sarah Healy	Robert Laurie Sarah Healy 💍 1899/2220	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Saleswoman	25 26	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 20 years	House of Mrs. H. Healy East Belt Chch	99/2150		26 June 1899	Rev. J. J. Loke, Baptist
276	26 June 1899	Tomenick Tomalley Lizzie Caroline Hyndham		Bachelor Spinster	Waiter Cook	28 28	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 3 years	Pro Cathedral Chch	99/3497		26 June 1899	Rev. C. Le Menant, Roman Catholic

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).