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 241

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1899 Registrar F. W. 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
71	13 February 1899	Robert Jefferson Annie Dowthwaite	Robert Jefferson Annie Dowthwaite 💍 1899/539	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	52 33	Marton Carlisle, Cumberland, England	39 years 33 years	Church of England, Karori	99/498		13 February 1899	Revd P. L. M. Cameron
72	13 February 1899	Thomas Rangiwahia Ellison Ethel May Howell	Thomas Rangiwahia Ellison Ethel May Howell 💍 1899/593	Bachelor Spinster	Solicitor	31 26	Wellington Wellington	14 years 5 months	St. Peters Church, Wellington	99/535		13 February 1899	Revd. W. C. Waters
73	14 February 1899	John Camden Selwyn Bennett Annie Maddock	John Camden Selwyn Bennett Annie Maddock 💍 1899/597	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Shop Assistant	27 24	Wellington Wellington	18 years 6 years	Residence of M. J. C. S. Kenne, Hospital Road, Wellington	99/540		14 February 1899	Revd. Wm. Baumber
74	14 February 1899	Thomas Evans Frances Mary Aldridge	Thomas Evans Frances Mary Alldridge 💍 1899/457	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	28 21	Wellington Wellington	28 years 10 years	Residence of W. H. H. Redshaw, 196, Upper Taranaki Street, Wellington	99/562		14 February 1899	Revd J. R. Elliott
75	16 February 1899	Albert Edward Waterson Ada Mary Old	Albert Edward Waterson Ada Mary Old 💍 1899/550	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	32 33	Karori, Wellington Karori, Wellington	7 years 8 years	Church of England, Karori	99/499		16 February 1899	Revd P. L. M. Cameron
76	16 February 1899	Henry Joseph Levy Eva Citron	Henry Joseph Levy Eva Citron 💍 1899/760	Bachelor Spinster	Clothing Manufacturer	29 25	Wellington Wellington	29 years 1 year	Jewish Synagogue, Wellington	99/680		16 February 1899	Revd Herman Van Staveren
77	16 February 1899	Jacob William Dubbelh Nellie Henley	Jacob William Dubbelt Nellie Henley 💍 1899/553	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Tailoress	29 20	Wellington Wellington	5 years 1 year	Registrars Office, Wellington	99/519	Clara Jane Henley, Mother	17 February 1899	F. W. Mansfield, Registrar
78	16 February 1899	William Ignatius Shanly Sarah Shirkey	William Ignatius Shanly Sarah Shirkey 💍 1899/1264	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	34 28	Greytown Greytown	2 years 2 years	Revd. C. S. Oggs' Manse, Wellington	99/1182		18 February 1899	Revd. C. S. Ogg
79	17 February 1899	John George Evereth Sarah Bertha Baylis	John George Everett Sarah Bertha Baylis 💍 1899/554	Bachelor Spinster	Independent Settler	29 21	Nelson Wanganui	5 years 6 months	Registrars Office, Wellington	99/520		17 February 1899	F. W. Mansfield, Registrar
80	17 February 1899	Willie Ernest Howe Frances Mary Burd	Willie Ernest Howe Frances Mary Burd 💍 1899/598	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	25 22	Wellington Wellington	25 years 1½ years	Wesley Church, Wellington	99/541		17 February 1899	Revd Wm Baumber

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).