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 319

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 September 1899 Registrar J Ward

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
1122	1 July 1899	Anthony George Thompson Martha Ann Good	Anthony George Thompson Martha Ann Good 💍 1899/3790	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 20	Ashburton Ashburton	26 years 20 years	St Stephens Church, Ashburton	99/3945	Peter Good, Father	1 July 1899	Revd. R. A. Woodthorpe
1123	6 July 1899	Alfred Smith Louisa Jane Gregg	Alfred Smith Louisa Jane Gregg 💍 1899/3382	Bachelor Spinster	Railway Porter Domestic Servant	23 24	Ashburton Tinwald	9 months 3 days	Private dwelling of Thomas Williams at Tinwald	99/3468		6 July 1899	Revd. James Mather
1124	12 July 1899	John Haack Mary Begg	John Haack Mary Begg 💍 1899/3379	Bachelor Spinster	Plasterer	29 22	Ashburton Hampstead	6 months 2 years	Presbyterian Church, Ashburton	99/3465		12 July 1899	Revd. G. B. Inglis
1125	12 July 1899	Edward Broker Mary Ann Brennan	Edward Broker Mary Ann Drennan 💍 1899/3377	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	32 25	Irwellton Winslow	13 years 15 years	Registrar's Office, Ashburton	99/3463		12 July 1899	J Ward, Registrar
1126	17 July 1899	Fred Timms Annie Clayton	Fred Timms Annie Clayton 💍 1899/3791	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Factory Operative	29 25	Ashton Ashburton	24 years 3 years	Church of St Stephen, Ashburton	99/3946		17 July 1899	Revd. R. A. Woodthorpe
1127	21 July 1899	Isidore Lorgelly Emily Grace Bull	Isidore Lorgelly Emily Grace Bull 💍 1899/3792	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	32 26	Rangitata Ashburton	5 years 9 years	Church of St Stephen, Ashburton	99/3947		21 July 1899	Revd. R. A. Woodthorpe
1128	2 August 1899	Hugh Sutherland Annie Peden	Hugh Sutherland Annie Pelvin 💍 1899/3378	Bachelor Widow	Tobacconist Domestic Servant	32 34	Ashburton Ashburton	3 days 3 days	Registrar's Office, Ashburton	99/3464		2 August 1899	J Ward, Registrar
1129	4 August 1899	William Annett Georgina Foster	William Annett Georgina Foster 💍 1899/3383	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor Domestic Servant	33 21	Ruapuna Ruapuna	12 years 5 years	The private House of Mr Ballantyne, Ruapuna	99/3469		4 August 1899	Revd. J. B. Westbrooke
1130	7 August 1899	William Charles Bloper Alice Watson Smith	William Charles Sloper Alice Watson Smith 💍 1899/3384 Edwin Charles Stone Alice Louisa Smith 💍 1899/1757	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	28 17	Ashburton Ashburton	3 days 1 week	The private dwelling of John Huffam at Ashburton	99/3470	Alexander Watson Smith, Father	7 August 1899	Revd. J. B. Westbrooke
1131	8 August 1899	William Brown Elizabeth Sarah Hickman	William Brown Elizabeth Sarah Hickman 💍 1899/3380	Widower Widow	Farmer	54 31	Wakanui Tinwald	24 years 4 years	Presbyterian Manse, Ashburton	99/3466		8 August 1899	Revd. Geo. B. Inglis
1132	19 August 1899	Peter Drummond Belina Ann Lilley	Peter Drommond Selina Ann Lilley 💍 1899/3385	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 20	Helensville Helensville	3 days 3 months	Private Dwelling of James Lilley, Helensville	99/3471	James Lilley, Father	29 August 1899	Revd. P. J. Riddle

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).