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 865

District of Kaiapoi Quarter ending 30 June 1899 Registrar J Thomas Hestin

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
35	3 April 1899	Harry Faber Dobson Martha Eveline Revell	Harry Faber Dobson Martha Eveline Revell 💍 1899/2343	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	27 27	Beefast Kaiapoi	1 year 17 years	Church of England, Kaiapoi	99/2257		3 April 1899	J. F. Mathias, Church of England
36	15 April 1899	Robert John Dunn Emma Taylor	Robert John Dunn Emma Taylor 💍 1899/5455	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	38 29	Kaiapoi Kaiapoi	11 years 29 years	Church of England, Kaiapoi	99/2258		15 April 1899	J. F. Mathias, Church of England
37	5 May 1899	William Lynskey Julia Power	William Lynskey Julia Power 💍 1899/2337	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 23	Kaiapoi Kaiapoi	24 years 22 years	R. Catholic, Church Kaiapoi	99/2257		5 May 1899	Patrick Cooney, R. Catholic
38	15 May 1899	Albert William Maber Mary Adeline Hill	Albert William Maber Mary Adeline Hill 💍 1899/2339	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	23 19	Kaiapoi Kaiapoi	23 years 3 years	S. Mabers house, Hugh St Kaiapoi	99/2253	Francis Chas Hill, father	15 May 1899	John Orchard, Wesleyan
39	2 June 1899	George Russell Charlotte Burnett Hill	George Russell Charlotte Burnett Hill 💍 1899/124	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Burler	33 25	Kaiapoi Kaiapoi	8 months 4 years	R. J. Hill's house, Mort R. Kaiapoi	99/2256		2 June 1899	Alfred James Harris, Salvation Army
40	6 June 1899	John Joseph Lynskey Margaret McGrath	John Joseph Lynskey Margaret McGrath 💍 1899/2338	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic duties	27 24	Ohoka Ohoka	13 years 24 years	R. Catholic, Church Kaiapoi	99/2252		6 June 1899	Patrick Cooney, R. Catholic
41	7 June 1899	Thomas Capstick Christian Lithhead	Thomas Capstick Christian Leathhead 💍 1899/2340	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	33 32	Kaiapoi Kaiapoi	2 years 10 years	Wesleyan, Church Kaiapoi	99/2254		7 June 1899	John Orchard, Wesleyan
42	20 June 1899	John Mortland Amelia Elizabeth Pearce	John Mortland Amelia Elizabeth Pearce 💍 1899/2344	Bachelor Spinster	Storehand Dressmaker	22 20	Kaiapoi Kaiapoi	10 years 20 years	Church of England, Kaiapoi	99/2259	Fredk Peace, father	20 June 1899	J. F. Mathias, Church of England
43	21 June 1899	Charles Edward Wilson Elizabeth Cattermole	Charles Edward Wilson Elizabeth Cattermole 💍 1899/2341	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	21 19	Kaiapoi Clarkville	2 years 19 years	John Cattermole's house, Clarkville	99/2255	John Cattermole, father	21 June 1899	John Orchard, Wesleyan
44	21 June 1899	Philip George Addis Nicholatta Margarita Gee	Philip George Addis Nicholatta Marguerita Gee 💍 1899/4989	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber Weaver	25 24	Petone Kaiapoi	3 years 6 months	W. J. Gee's house, Broom St Kaiapoi	99/4857		21 June 1899	W. J. Fow, Presbyterian

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).