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 852

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 1899 Registrar J. W. Matheson

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
261	June 1899	Henry Fairburn Grace Ellen Neave	Henry Fairburn Butcher Grace Ellen Neeve 💍 1899/2291	Bachelor Spinster	Merchant Butcher	26 27	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 3 years	St Marks Church, Opawa	99/2228	16 June 1899	New Archdeacon, Christchurch, Anglican
262	19 June 1899	Francis Barnett Ellen Norton	Francis Barrett Ellen Norton 💍 1899/2232	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner Domestic	23 23	J. J. Monowai Christchurch	3 months 3 years	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	99/2138	19 June 1899	Registrar of Marriages
263	19 June 1899	Emerson Clarkson Brown Adeline Hannah Green	Emerson Clarkson Benon Adaline Hannah Green 💍 1899/3577	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor Tailoress	25 24	Christchurch Christchurch	25 years 20 years	St Pauls Church, Cashel St, Christchurch	99/3531	19 June 1899	Rev F. Plusbie, Presbyterian
264	19 June 1899	Arthur Harris Mary Ruth Scott	Arthur Harris Mary Ruth Scott 💍 1899/2230	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Domestic	26 29	Christchurch Christchurch	14 years 29 years	Methodist Church, Lower High St, Christchurch	99/2160	19 June 1899	Rev J. A. Hosking, Methodist
265	21 June 1899	James Chambers Sarah Ann Neill	James Chambers Sarah Anna Neill 💍 1899/2715	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	33 34	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 34 years	Wesleyan Methodist Church, Addington	99/2675	21 June 1899	Rev J. R. Thomas, Wesleyan
266	21 June 1899	James Herbert Kerr Ella Constance Findall		Bachelor Spinster	Fellmonger	23 32	Ashburton Christchurch	3 months 3 years	Registrar's Office, Ashburton	99/3546	21 June 1899	Registrar of Marriages, Ashburton
267	21 June 1899	Charles Broadhurst Elizabeth Maud Patterson	Charles Broadhurst Elizabeth Maud Patterson 💍 1899/3566	Bachelor Spinster	Foreman Domestic	23 21	Christchurch Christchurch	11 years 3 years	Congregational Church, Linwood	99/3546	21 June 1899	Rev J. Tarquison, Congregational
268	22 June 1899	Lewis William Johns Amy Sarah Patmore Thorne	Lewis William Johns Amy Sarah Patmore Thorne 💍 1899/2701	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	33 29	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 12 years	St Matthews Church, St Albans	99/2685	22 June 1899	Rev H. Williams, Anglican

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).