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 430

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1899 Registrar John Logan Bush

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

23 January 1899

Walter Horace Brent
Constance Julie Guthrie

Walter Horace Brent
Constance Julia Guthrie
💍 1899/1255

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant

33
23

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 years
14 years

St Pauls Church, Dee Street, Invercargill

99/1027

23 January 1899

Rev Geo. Lindsay

No	7
Date of Notice	23 January 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Horace Brent	Constance Julie Guthrie
BDM Match (98%)	Walter Horace Brent	Constance Julia Guthrie
	💍 1899/1255
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	14 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Church, Dee Street, Invercargill
Folio	99/1027
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev Geo. Lindsay

24 January 1899

William Anderson
Euphemia Anna Marie Gucdvor

William Anderson
Euphemia Anna Marie McIvor
💍 1899/1242

William Anderson
Sarah Ann Carr
💍 1899/2758

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Manager

33
28

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
1 month

House of Mr Hector Gucdvor, Forth Street, Invercargill

99/1038

24 January 1899

Rev Gibson Smith

No	8
Date of Notice	24 January 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Anderson	Euphemia Anna Marie Gucdvor
BDM Match (94%)	William Anderson	Euphemia Anna Marie McIvor
	💍 1899/1242
BDM Match (65%)	William Anderson	Sarah Ann Carr
	💍 1899/2758
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Manager
Age	33	28
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	1 month
Marriage Place	House of Mr Hector Gucdvor, Forth Street, Invercargill
Folio	99/1038
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev Gibson Smith

25 January 1899

Archibald Meikle
Barbara Henderson

Archibald Meikle
Barbara Henderson
💍 1899/1162

Widower
Widow

Labourer

49
47

Long Bush
One Tree Point

24 years
4 days

House of Mr D Macfarlane, One Tree Point

99/1048

25 January 1899

Rev Evan Bissett

No	9
Date of Notice	25 January 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Meikle	Barbara Henderson
	💍 1899/1162
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Labourer
Age	49	47
Dwelling Place	Long Bush	One Tree Point
Length of Residence	24 years	4 days
Marriage Place	House of Mr D Macfarlane, One Tree Point
Folio	99/1048
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev Evan Bissett

27 January 1899

Henry Thompson
Catherine Florence Kempes

Henry Thompson
Catherine Florence Menpes
💍 1899/1081

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

27
26

Invercargill
Invercargill

4 days
3 days

Office of the Registrar, Invercargill

99/1017

27 January 1899

J. L. Bush, Registrar

No	10
Date of Notice	27 January 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Thompson	Catherine Florence Kempes
BDM Match (96%)	Henry Thompson	Catherine Florence Menpes
	💍 1899/1081
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Invercargill
Folio	99/1017
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1899
Officiating Minister	J. L. Bush, Registrar

28 January 1899

John Cheyne
Florence Edith Barfoot

John Cheyne
Florence Edith Barfoot
💍 1899/1256

Bachelor
Spinster

Drapers Assistant

32
32

Invercargill
Invercargill

16 years
10 years

House of Mr John Cheyne, Ettrick Street, Invercargill

99/1028

28 January 1899

Rev Geo. Lindsay

No	11
Date of Notice	28 January 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Cheyne	Florence Edith Barfoot
	💍 1899/1256
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Drapers Assistant
Age	32	32
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	16 years	10 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr John Cheyne, Ettrick Street, Invercargill
Folio	99/1028
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev Geo. Lindsay

1 February 1899

Horace Charles James Church
Emily Greenhouse

Horace Charles James Church
Emily Greenhouse
💍 1899/1082

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
26

Long Bush
Long Bush

16 years
18 years

Office of the Registrar, Invercargill

99/1018

1 February 1899

J. L. Bush, Registrar

No	12
Date of Notice	1 February 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horace Charles James Church	Emily Greenhouse
	💍 1899/1082
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	26
Dwelling Place	Long Bush	Long Bush
Length of Residence	16 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Invercargill
Folio	99/1018
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1899
Officiating Minister	J. L. Bush, Registrar

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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 1903. 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).