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 342

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 1899 Registrar J W MacKeown

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
405	26 September 1899	Russue Patrick O'Shaughnessy Madeline May Lonargan	Russel Patrick O'Shaughnessy Madeline May Louargan 💍 1899/3596	Bachelor Spinster	Draper Governess	29 27	Christchurch Christchurch	14 Years 14 Years	St Marys Church, Manchester Street	99/3581		26 September 1899	Rev. T. Marnane, Romanist
406	26 September 1899	John Zapatries Frances Gearschawski	John Fitzpatrick Frances Gearschawski 💍 1899/3597	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 Days 21 Years	St Marys Church, Manchester St	99/3582		26 September 1899	Rev. T. Marnane, Romanist
407	26 September 1899	David Butcher Helen Smith McCallum	David Butcher Helen Smith McCallum 💍 1899/3694	Widower Spinster	Gauger Tailoress	39 37	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 37 Years	Wesleyan Parsonage, Selwyn St	99/3568		26 September 1899	Rev. T. E. Thomas, Wesleyan
408	26 September 1899	Josiah Preston Elfrida May Pullin	Josiah Preston Elfrida Mary Pullin 💍 1899/3561	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Domestic	37 28	Christchurch Christchurch	4 Years 21 Years	Holy Trinity Church, Avonside	99/3540		26 September 1899	Rev. W. A. Pascoe, Anglican
409	27 September 1899	Henry Charles James Yeatman Selina Barrett	Henry Charles James Yeatman Selina Barrett 💍 1899/3692	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	23 17	Woolston Linwood	12 Years 17 Years	House of Mr J. Barrett, Creek Street	99/3566	Jonathan Barrett, Father	27 September 1899	Rev. C. H. Laws, Wesleyan
410	27 September 1899	Philip John Mauger Fanny Elizabeth Lightfoot	Philip John Manger Fanny Elizabeth Lightfoot 💍 1899/4967	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	24 21	Christchurch Christchurch	22 Years 21 Years	Holy Trinity Church, Avonside	99/4769		27 September 1899	Rev. W. A. Pascoe, Anglican
411	28 September 1899	Henry Robert Fiedely Sarah Bradshaw	Henry Robert Vickery Sarah Bradshaw 💍 1899/105	Bachelor Spinster	Baker Domestic	20 19	Christchurch Christchurch	20 Years 16 Years	House of Rev Dr Elmslie, Lichfield St	99/5323	Mary Ann French, Mother; Thomas Bradshaw, Father	28 September 1899	Rev. Dr Elmslie, Presbyterian
412	28 September 1899	William Mussin Catherine Sophie Grace Arnst	William Husson Catherina Sophie Grace Arnst 💍 1899/3693	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	31 23	Christchurch Christchurch	10 Years 23 Years	German Church, Christchurch	99/3567		28 September 1899	Rev. T. A. Meyer, Anglican

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).