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 241

District of WELLINGTON Quarter ending 30 September 1899 Registrar FREDERICK WILLIAM MANSFIELD

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

272

1 July 1899

Allan Macdonald
Ellen Dorothy Johnson Tripe

Allan MacDonald Johnson
Ellen Dorothy Tripe
💍 1899/3512

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk in Holy Orders M.A.

28
19

Greytown
Wellington

3 months
19 years

St. Peter's Church, Willis Street, Wellington

99/3345

Tripe, Father

1 July 1899

Rev. W. C. Waters

No	272
Date of Notice	1 July 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan Macdonald	Ellen Dorothy Johnson Tripe
BDM Match (66%)	Allan MacDonald Johnson	Ellen Dorothy Tripe
	💍 1899/3512
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk in Holy Orders M.A.
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Greytown	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 months	19 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	99/3345
Consent	Tripe, Father
Date of Certificate	1 July 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. C. Waters

273

4 July 1899

John James Adams
Rose Longhurst

John James Adams
Rose Songhurst
💍 1899/3265

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Laundress

24
21

Wellington
Wellington

24 years
19 years

Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church

99/3321

4 July 1899

Rev. J. R. Elliott

No	273
Date of Notice	4 July 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John James Adams	Rose Longhurst
BDM Match (96%)	John James Adams	Rose Songhurst
	💍 1899/3265
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Laundress
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	24 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church
Folio	99/3321
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Elliott

274

4 July 1899

George Alfred Palmer
Elizabeth Emma Fawcett

George Alfred Palmer
Elizabeth Emma Fawcett
💍 1899/3297

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

22
21

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

12 years
12 years

Registrar Office, Wellington

99/3291

4 July 1899

Registrar F. W. Mansfield

No	274
Date of Notice	4 July 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Alfred Palmer	Elizabeth Emma Fawcett
	💍 1899/3297
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	12 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Registrar Office, Wellington
Folio	99/3291
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1899
Officiating Minister	Registrar F. W. Mansfield

275

4 July 1899

Joseph George Churches
Pauline Henrietta Spindeler

Joseph George Churches
Paulina Henrietta Spindeler
💍 1899/3273

Bachelor
Spinster

Surveyor

30
26

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
2 1/2 years

Rev. H. C. Oliver's Manse, Taranaki Street

99/3328

4 July 1899

Rev. H. C. Oliver

No	275
Date of Notice	4 July 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph George Churches	Pauline Henrietta Spindeler
BDM Match (98%)	Joseph George Churches	Paulina Henrietta Spindeler
	💍 1899/3273
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surveyor
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Rev. H. C. Oliver's Manse, Taranaki Street
Folio	99/3328
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. C. Oliver

276

4 July 1899

Edward William Beaglehole
Laura Fanny Pringle

Edward William Beaglehole
Laura Pinny
💍 1899/3274

Bachelor
Spinster

School Teacher

29
24

Greyerton
Wellington

5 months
12 years

Residence of Rev. W. C. Oliver, 54 Ellice Street, Wellington

99/3329

4 July 1899

Rev. W. C. Oliver

No	276
Date of Notice	4 July 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward William Beaglehole	Laura Fanny Pringle
BDM Match (74%)	Edward William Beaglehole	Laura Pinny
	💍 1899/3274
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School Teacher
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Greyerton	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 months	12 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. W. C. Oliver, 54 Ellice Street, Wellington
Folio	99/3329
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. C. Oliver

277

4 July 1899

Joseph Henry Wagg
Mary Plunkett

Joseph Henry Wagg
Mary Plunkett
💍 1899/3368

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Teacher

29
25

Wellington
Wellington

13 years
25 years

St. Mary's Chapel, Hill Street, Wellington

99/3376

4 July 1899

Rev. Wm. Jos. Lewis

No	277
Date of Notice	4 July 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Henry Wagg	Mary Plunkett
	💍 1899/3368
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Teacher
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	13 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Chapel, Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	99/3376
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Jos. Lewis

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).