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 893

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 June 1899 Registrar Alex 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	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
26	8 May 1899	Duncan Campbell Rose Helen Briggs Middleton	Duncan Campbell Rose Helen Briggs Middleton 💍 1899/2745	Bachelor Spinster	Station Manager	29 23	Timaru Timaru	5 days 4 days	Dwelling House of Jas. A. Mitchell, Severn Terrace, Timaru	99/2795		8 May 1899	Rev. Wm Gillies, Presbyterian Minister
27	9 May 1899	Thomas Henry Baker Clara Elizabeth Harris	Thomas Henry Baker Clara Elizabeth Harris 💍 1899/2744 Thomas Harris Mary Elizabeth Harris 💍 1900/764	Bachelor Spinster	Working Manager Wool Works	27 25	Washdyke Washdyke	3 days 2 months	Dwelling house of N. Harris, Washdyke	99/2794		9 May 1899	Rev. Wm Gillies, Presbyterian Minister
28	9 May 1899	Ernest Hassall Annie Mary Sinclair	Ernest Hassall Annie Mary Sinclair 💍 1899/2746	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	29 23	Timaru Timaru	20 years 23 years	Presbyterian Church, Timaru	99/2796		9 May 1899	Rev. Wm Gillies, Presbyterian Minister
29	18 May 1899	John Glass Annie Craigie	John Glass Annie Craigie 💍 1899/2723	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Labourer	30 26	Kingsdown Timaru	3 years 6 months	Dwelling House of James Craigie, High St, Timaru	99/2797		18 May 1899	Rev. Wm Gillies, Presbyterian Minister
30	19 May 1899	James Auld Mary Janet Campbell	James Auld Mary Janet Campbell 💍 1899/2357 James Alexander Stephen Mary Jane Campbell 💍 1899/5525	Widower Widow	Engine Fitter Boarding Housekeeper	46 30	Timaru Timaru	22 years 2 years	Dwelling house of Rev. Geo. Burgess, Timaru	99/2322		19 May 1899	Rev. George Burgess, Congregational Minister
31	26 May 1899	Joseph Henry Harrison Elizabeth Sophia Gunter	Joseph Henry Harrison Elizabeth Sophia Gunter 💍 1899/2705	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	29 33	Timaru Timaru	2 years 5 years	Dwelling house of Mrs. Anderson, Bank St, Timaru	99/2689		26 May 1899	Rev. Wm Gillies, Presbyterian Minister
32	29 May 1899	Thomas Traves Eliza Williams	Thomas Traves Eliza Williams 💍 1899/2371 Thomas Stone Alice Jane Williams 💍 1899/726	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 20	Saint Andrews Saint Andrews	4 days 20 years	English Church, St. Andrews	99/2318	James Clemens Williams, Father	31 May 1899	Rev. L. B. Brady, Church of England Minister
33	5 June 1899	Thomas Neason Catherine Elizabeth Gibb Hendry	Thomas Neason Catherine Elizabeth Gibb Hendry 💍 1899/2377	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	26 25	Timaru Timaru	3 days 3 days	English Church, Timaru	99/2319		5 June 1899	Rev. L. B. Brady, Church of England Clergyman
34	12 June 1899	Frederick James Brehaut Mary Ann Hosking	Frederick James Brehaut Mary Ann Hosking 💍 1899/2374	Bachelor Spinster	Bricklayer	19 23	Timaru Timaru	19 years 20 years	Dwelling house of W. Brook, Creek St, Timaru	99/2316	James Brehaut, Father	12 June 1899	Rev. W. B. Woodward, Primitive Methodist Minister
35	13 June 1899	John Gilbert McSlurick Mary Eleanor Jackson	John Gilbert McIlwrick Mary Eleanor Jackson 💍 1899/2323	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	25 20	Timaru Timaru	3 days 8 months	Registrar's Office, Timaru	99/2310	Hyman Jackson, Father	13 June 1899	Alexander Montgomery, Registrar of Marriages

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).