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 243

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1899 Registrar F M Mansfield

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
91	24 February 1899	Albert Robert Edward Hare Frances Emma Dodsworth	Albert Robert Edward Aldred Frances Emma Dodsworth 💍 1899/1283	Bachelor Spinster	Tinsmith Machinist	21 22	Wellington Wellington	12 yrs 22 yrs	St Pauls pro Cathedral Wellington	99/1177		24 February 1899	Revd T. H. Sprott
92	25 February 1899	William Crockett Davies Margaret Orr	William Crockett Davies Margaret Orr 💍 1899/1265	Bachelor Spinster	Bookmaker	25 20	Melbourne Johnsonville, Wellington	years 20 yrs	St Andrews Church Wellington	99/1183	John Forbes Orr Father	27 February 1899	Revd C. S. Ogg
93	27 February 1899	James Ronald Divers Elinor Roberts	James Ronald Divers Elinor Roberts 💍 1899/5441	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	24 23	Wellington Dunedin	2 Mos 23 yrs	Primitive Methodist Church, Webb St, Wellington	99/568		27 February 1899	Revd Jas Dawson
94	27 February 1899	Charles Leonard Archer Minnie Hurrell	Charles Leonard Archer Minnie Hurrell 💍 1899/695	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	27 26	Wellington Wellington	27 yrs 10 yrs	Residence of Mr Hurrell Crawford St Wellington	99/590			Revd Chas Dallaston
95	27 February 1899	Edward Battersby Toomath Amy Frances Meek	Edward Battersby Toomath Amy Frances Meek 💍 1899/1284	Bachelor Spinster	Electrical Engineer	28 27	Wellington Wellington	28 yrs 27 yrs	St Pauls Pro Cathedral Wellington	99/1178			Revd Thos Fancourt
96	2 March 1899	Harold George Matthews Margaret Ellen Bell	Harold George Matthews Margaret Ellen Bell 💍 1899/556	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	30 20	Wellington Wellington	16 Mos 12 yrs	Registrars Office Wellington	99/522	Agnes Bell Mother	2 March 1899	F M Mansfield, Registrar
97	3 March 1899	Charles Johnson Lelia O'Brien	Charles Johnson Delia O'Brien 💍 1899/851	Widower Spinster	Builder	34 28	Wellington Wellington	14 yrs 8 yrs	Wesleyan Church Taranaki St Wellington			3 March 1899	Revd Wm Baumber
98	4 March 1899	Thomas Leland Stickin Edith Evens	Thomas Leland Aickins Edith Ovens 💍 1899/1261	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	23 28	Wellington Kaipara, Auckland	7 Mos 28 yrs	St Pauls pro Cathedral Wellington	99/1179		4 March 1899	Revd T. H. Sprott
99	6 March 1899	Matthew Hendrie Barr Ellen Maude Lopas	Matthew Hendrie Barr Ellen Maude Lopas 💍 1899/592	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	32 25	Wellington Wellington	1 1/2 yrs 3 1/2 yrs	St Peters Church Wellington	99/534		6 March 1899	Revd W. C. Waters
100	6 March 1899	Ringi Horomona Amiria Ternatahora	Ringi Horomond Amiria Teruatahora 💍 1899/589	Divorced (Maori custom) Widow (Maori custom)	Farmer	32 34	Porirua Porirua	32 yrs 17 yrs	Registrars Office Wellington	99/523			F M Mansfield, Registrar

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).