Intentions to Marry, 1899 July-December

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840416, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole 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 231

District of Shannon Quarter ending 30 September 1899 Registrar William Charles Nation

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

10 July 1899

David Paterson
Emma May McDermott

David Paterson
Emma May McDermott
💍 1899/3283

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

22
18

Levin
Levin

Four years
Sixteen months

Residence of Rev. W. E. Bellhouse, Levin

99/3270

Edward George McDermott, Father, Levin

10 July 1899

Rev. W. E. Bellhouse

No	39
Date of Notice	10 July 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Paterson	Emma May McDermott
	💍 1899/3283
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Levin	Levin
Length of Residence	Four years	Sixteen months
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. W. E. Bellhouse, Levin
Folio	99/3270
Consent	Edward George McDermott, Father, Levin
Date of Certificate	10 July 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Bellhouse

17 July 1899

John Rose
Rose Sowerby

John Rose
Rose Sowerby
💍 1899/3324

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmill hand
Domestic Duties

22
18

Ohau
Ohau

Six months
Six months

Office of the Registrar, at Levin

99/3268

Parents dead. Has no guardian.

17 July 1899

Registrar, at his office, Levin

No	40
Date of Notice	17 July 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Rose	Rose Sowerby
	💍 1899/3324
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmill hand	Domestic Duties
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Ohau	Ohau
Length of Residence	Six months	Six months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, at Levin
Folio	99/3268
Consent	Parents dead. Has no guardian.
Date of Certificate	17 July 1899
Officiating Minister	Registrar, at his office, Levin

18 July 1899

Angus McDonald
Emily Ada Burnell

Angus Macdonald
Emily Ada Burnell
💍 1899/3294

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Manager
Domestic Duties

36
29

Hunterville
Kereru

Eighteen months
Three years

St. Mary's Church, Levin

99/3271

18 July 1899

Rev. H. L. Leach

No	41
Date of Notice	18 July 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Angus McDonald	Emily Ada Burnell
BDM Match (93%)	Angus Macdonald	Emily Ada Burnell
	💍 1899/3294
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Manager	Domestic Duties
Age	36	29
Dwelling Place	Hunterville	Kereru
Length of Residence	Eighteen months	Three years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Levin
Folio	99/3271
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 July 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. L. Leach

9 August 1899

William George Cuthbert
Ellen Cameron

William George Cuthbert
Ellen Cameron
💍 1899/4377

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

36
21

Levin
Levin

Three days
Three weeks

St. Andrew's Catholic Church, Levin

99/3906

9 August 1899

Rev. Father De Lach

No	42
Date of Notice	9 August 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Cuthbert	Ellen Cameron
	💍 1899/4377
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	36	21
Dwelling Place	Levin	Levin
Length of Residence	Three days	Three weeks
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Catholic Church, Levin
Folio	99/3906
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 August 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father De Lach

26 August 1899

Samuel Land Liggins
Maud Burge

Samuel Land Liggins
Maud Burger
💍 1899/5184

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

21
22

Toromaru
Toromaru

Eleven years
Three years

Residence of Mr. J. Burge, Toromaru

99/5280

26 August 1899

Rev. Mr. Woollass

No	43
Date of Notice	26 August 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Land Liggins	Maud Burge
BDM Match (95%)	Samuel Land Liggins	Maud Burger
	💍 1899/5184
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Toromaru	Toromaru
Length of Residence	Eleven years	Three years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. Burge, Toromaru
Folio	99/5280
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 August 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. Mr. Woollass

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 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).