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 271

District of Wairau Quarter ending 30 September 1899 Registrar W. J. Hawley

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
27	3 July 1899	Michael Healy Sarah Ann Bushell	Michael Healy Sarah Ann Bishell 💍 1899/3347	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 24	Blenheim Blenheim	25 years 22 years	House of Mr. D. Bushell, Blenheim	99/3400		3 July 1899	Rev. W. Keall
28	4 July 1899	Henry White Horton Bertha Louise Farmer	Henry White Norton Bertha Louisa Farmar 💍 1899/3419	Bachelor Spinster	Commission Agent	27 24	Blenheim Blenheim	18 years 24 years	Church of England, Blenheim	99/3406		4 July 1899	Rev. J. S. Ince
29	12 July 1899	John Henry James Waterhouse Annie Mary McMillan	John Henry James Waterhouse Annie Mary McMillan 💍 1899/3420	Bachelor Spinster	Flaxdresser	32 21	Blenheim Blenheim	13 years 21 years	House of Mr. C. McMillan, Blenheim	99/3407		12 July 1899	Rev. W. O. Robb
30	15 July 1899	William Edward Brooks Martha Audrell Sweetown	William Edward Brooks Martha Andrell 💍 1899/3345	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 23	Renwicktown Sweetown	25 years 23 years	Office of Registrar, Blenheim	99/3398		15 July 1899	W. J. Hawley, Registrar
31	20 July 1899	David Mills Jellyman Edith Ann Head	David Mills Edith Ann Jellyman 💍 1899/3348	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 23	Blenheim Springlands	24 years 23 years	House of Mr. H. Jellyman, Springlands	99/3401		20 July 1899	Rev. W. Keall
32	20 July 1899	David James Herd Fanny Bonnington	David James Herd Fanny Bonnington 💍 1899/3421	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	39 32	Blenheim Blenheim	15 years 32 years	Presbyterian Church, Blenheim	99/3408		20 July 1899	Rev. W. O. Robb
33	2 September 1899	Herbert Charles Schwarz Eleanor Mary Bothwell	Herbert Charles Schwass Eleanor Mary Bothwell 💍 1899/3399	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 19	Springlands Springlands	12 years 19 years	House of Mr. F. Schwarz, Springlands	99/3402	Eliz. Mackersy, mother	2 September 1899	Rev. W. Keall
34	4 September 1899	Thorn Pike Elizabeth Alice Gifford	Thom Pike Elizabeth Alice Gifford 💍 1899/3410	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	33 35	Blenheim Spring Creek	33 years 35 years	Wesleyan Church, Spring Creek	99/3403		4 September 1899	Rev. W. Keall
35	15 September 1899	Frederick Thomas Mary White	Frederick Thomas May White 💍 1899/3346	Widower Widow	Farmer	49 48	Wairau Valley Okaramio	1 week 16 years	Office of Registrar, Blenheim	99/3399		15 September 1899	W. Hosworthy, Deputy Registrar
36	15 September 1899	Robert Selmage Rush Parker Alice Woolmer	Robert Talmage Rush Alice Wooliner Parker 💍 1899/3417	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	23 23	Blenheim Blenheim	10 years 23 years	House of Mr. A. Jackson, Blenheim	99/3404		15 September 1899	Rev. W. Keall

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).