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 239

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
51	2 February 1899	William Henry Russell Clara Eleanor Francess Louise Lacry	William Henry Russell Clara Eleanor Frances Louise Laery 💍 1899/699	Bachelor Spinster	Hansard Reporter	33 28	Wellington Lower Hutt	33 yrs 14 mos	St James Church Lower Hutt	99/573		2 February 1899	Revd W.C. Waters & T Jones
52	3 February 1899	George Waterhouse Mary Fishere McCutchon	George Waterhouse Mary Fisher McCutchon McQuiston 💍 1899/5439	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Dressmaker	35 28	Wellington Wellington	2 1/2 yrs 8 mos	Residence of Revd Jno Dawson 12, Webb Street Wellington	99/566		3 February 1899	Revd. Jno Dawson
53	3 February 1899	Robert McKenzie Elize Jensen	Robert McKenzie Elise Jensen 💍 1899/456	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	30 24	Wellington Wellington	5 yrs 4 yrs	Revd J.K. Elliotts Manse, Pirie St. Wellington	99/561		3 February 1899	Revd J.K. Elliott
54	3 February 1899	Alexander Robert Webster Mary Margaret Ellen Cavanagh	Alexander Robert Webster Mary Margaret Ellen Cavanagh 💍 1899/548	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	22 25	Petone Petone	6 mos 6 mos	Registrars Office Wellington	99/515		3 February 1899	F.W. Mansfield, Registrar
55	6 February 1899	Charles Buckland Pharazyn Ella Margaret Izard	Charles Buckland Pharazyn Ella Margaret Izard 💍 1899/1282	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer	30 28	Featherston Wellington	27 yrs 28 yrs	St Pauls Pro Cathedral Wellington	99/1176		7 February 1899	His Lordship, Fred Wallis. Bishop of Wellington
56	6 February 1899	Peter Oliver Annie Foreman	Peter Oliver Annie Foreman 💍 1899/455	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	38 29	Martinborough Ashburton	30 yrs 20 yrs	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church, Wellington	99/560		6 February 1899	Revd J.K. Elliott
57	6 February 1899	John Healy Bridget Hogan	John Kealy Bridget Hogan 💍 1899/468	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	29 25	Otaki Otaki	5 mos 4 mos	St Marys of the Angels Boulcott St. Wellington	99/553		6 February 1899	Revd Thos DeVoy
58	6 February 1899	Alfred John Bland Henrietta Florence Minifie	Alfred John Bland Henrietta Florence Minifie 💍 1899/809	Bachelor Spinster	Builder Music Teacher	34 30	Wellington Petone	11 yrs 4 yrs	Wesleyan Church Petone	99/598		6 February 1899	Revd Joseph H. Gray
59	7 February 1899	Thomas Frederick Herdman Elizabeth Rosina Johnson	Thomas Fredrick Herdman Elizabeth Rosina Johnson 💍 1899/1263	Bachelor Spinster	Railway Guard	33 28	Wellington Wellington	7 yrs 12 yrs	Residence of W.G. Higgardsford, Guildy St, Wellington	99/1181		7 February 1899	Revd. C.S. Ogg
60	8 February 1899	Harry Oakley Nellie Hawkings	Harry Oakley Nellie Hawkings 💍 1899/463	Bachelor Spinster	Tinsmith	23 16	Wellington Wellington	4 yrs 16 yrs	Residence of Revd Thos F. Jones Featherston Tce Wellington	99/571	Mary Hawkings Mother	8 February 1899	Revd Thos. F. Jones

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).