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 892

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 June 1899 Registrar Alexander Montgomery

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
16	4 April 1899	Walter Thomas Johnston Minnie Hisch	Walter Thomas Johnston Minnie Hitch 💍 1899/2355	Bachelor Spinster	Telegraphist	26 26	Timaru Timaru	4 days 26 years	Dwelling House of W.J. Hisch, Stafford St, Timaru	99/2321	4 April 1899	Rev. George Burgess, Congregational Minister
17	4 April 1899	Walter John Burford Hannah Boys	Walter John Burford Hannah Boys 💍 1899/2356	Bachelor Spinster	Miller Dressmaker	27 23	Timaru Timaru	4 days 23 years	Congregational Church, Timaru	99/2322	4 April 1899	Rev. George Burgess, Congregational Minister
18	4 April 1899	Peter Bower Bridget Lane	Peter Bower Bridget Lane 💍 1899/2321	Bachelor Spinster	Waggoner	30 22	Timaru Timaru	1 week 22 years	Registrar's Office, Timaru	99/2308	4 April 1899	Alexander Montgomery, Registrar of Marriages
19	4 April 1899	William Yeatman Jessie Stacy Cullen	William Yeatman Jessie Stacy Cullen 💍 1899/2322	Widower Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	62 28	Timaru Timaru	26 years 28 years	Registrar's Office, Timaru	99/2309	4 April 1899	Alexander Montgomery, Registrar of Marriages
20	12 April 1899	Eugene Sullivan Catherine Lucy Lounsey	Eugene Sullivan Catherine Lucy Louney 💍 1899/2358	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	29 26	Levels Levels	7 years 15 years	Roman Catholic Church, Timaru	99/2324	12 April 1899	Rev. J. Tubman, Roman Catholic Priest
21	14 April 1899	John Dunnill Jessie Heziah Cooke	John Dunnill Jessie Keziah Cooke 💍 1899/2364	Bachelor Spinster	Bridge Labourer	24 24	St. Andrews St. Andrews	5 years 12 years	English Church, St. Andrews	99/2312	14 April 1899	Rev. L. B. Brady, Church of England Clergyman
22	19 April 1899	John Joseph Shaw Eleanor Ansell	John Joseph Shaw Eleanor Ansell 💍 1899/2742	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Labourer Domestic Servant	35 25	Timaru Timaru	4 days 4 days	Dwelling House of Rev. W. Gillies, Timaru	99/2792	19 April 1899	Rev. William Gillies, Presbyterian Minister
23	19 April 1899	Frederick Clarke Matilda Amelia Gatchell	Frederick Clarke Matilda Amelia Gatchell 💍 1899/2372	Bachelor Spinster	Bookseller	27 22	Timaru Timaru	2 years 7 years	Dwelling House of E. Stromdahl, Timaru	99/2314	19 April 1899	Rev. J. Newman Buttle, Wesleyan Minister
24	27 April 1899	James Montague Johnstone Katherine Simpson	James Montague Johnstone Katherine Simpson 💍 1899/2743	Bachelor Spinster	Fireman	24 27	Timaru Timaru	3 days 3 days	Dwelling House of Mrs. Rooney, Timaru	99/2793	27 April 1899	Rev. William Gillies, Presbyterian Minister
25	5 May 1899	John Glover Stevens Elizabeth Jane De Gruchy	John Glover Stevens Elizabeth Jane De Gruchy 💍 1899/2373	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	42 38	Timaru Timaru	3 days 10 years	Mark Frame's dwelling-house, Timaru	99/2315	5 May 1899	Rev. W. B. Woodward, Primitive Methodist 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).