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 997

District of RIVERTON Quarter ending 30 June 1899 Registrar George Ashby

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
547	3 April 1899	Robert Fairbairn Johnston Ellen Bailey	Robert Fairbairn Johnston Ellen Bailey 💍 1899/2634	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper Domestic Duties	38 28	Riverton Riverton	3 days 20 years	In the Wesleyan Church, Riverton	99/2604		3 April 1899	Rev. J. J. Burrows, Wesleyan
548	8 May 1899	James Williams Annie McNickel	James Williams Annie McNickel 💍 1899/2838	Bachelor Widow	Farmer Domestic Duties	50 37	Te Tua, Naran Riverton	15 years 10 years	In the Roman Catholic Church, Riverton	99/2815		8 May 1899	Rev. M. Walsh, Roman Catholic
549	23 May 1899	Robert Millar Isabella Carmichael	Robert Millar Isabella Carmichael 💍 1899/2632	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Duties	32 34	Riverton Gropers Bush	3 days 24 years	In the Presbyterian Church, Gropers Bush	99/2602		23 May 1899	Rev. R. McCally, Presbyterian
550	23 May 1899	Thomas More Elizabeth Ann Twerdie	Thomas More Elizabeth Ann Tweedie 💍 1899/2633	Bachelor Spinster	Sawmiller Domestic Duties	27 23	Riverton Riverton	27 years 10 years	At the House of Matthew Twerdie, Havelock Street, Riverton	99/2603		23 May 1899	Rev. R. McCally, Presbyterian
551	27 June 1899	John Henry Homer Florence Louisa Popham	John Henry Homer Florence Louisa Pophan 💍 1899/2675	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Domestic Duties	24 20	Orepuki Orepuki	18 years 20 years	At the House of James Popham, Orepuki	99/2631	James Popham (Father)	27 June 1899	Rev. Robt. Robb, Presbyterian
552	27 June 1899	Henry Knowler Ellen Donoran	Henry Knowler Ellen Donovan 💍 1899/5286	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Duties	29 21	Orepuki Riverton	9 years 21 years	At the Roman Catholic Church	99/5433		27 June 1899	Rev. M. Walsh, Roman Catholic
553	29 June 1899	William McKenzie Lavinia Reid	William McKenzie Lavinia Reid 💍 1899/5292	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Domestic Duties	27 22	Orepuki Orepuki	3 years 15 years	At the House of Michael Reid, Orepuki	99/5438		29 June 1899	Rev. M. Walsh, 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).