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 380

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 September 1899 Registrar Alexander Montgomery

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
40	6 July 1899	Joseph Keltoe Cameron Ellen Foster	Joseph Feltoe Cameron Ellen Foster 💍 1899/3820	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Dressmaker	38 years 21 years	Timaru Timaru	15 years 21 years	English Church Timaru	99/3975		6 July 1899	Rev. H. H. Harper, Church of England Clergyman
41	8 July 1899	Michael Joseph Sullivan Nelly Agnes Metcalfe	Michael Joseph Sullivan Nellie Agnes McAuliffe 💍 1899/129	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	29 years 21 years	Springbrook St Andrews Salisbury	3 years 14 years	Roman Catholic Church Timaru	99/3640		9 July 1899	Rev. A. Tubman, Roman Catholic Priest
42	15 July 1899	Albert Henry Abbott Jeannie Baird	Albert Henry Abbott Jane Caird 💍 1899/3682	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 years 21 years	Rangitata Pariora	12 months	Presbyterian Church Timaru	99/3641		15 July 1899	Rev. R. Mackie, Presbyterian Minister
43	22 July 1899	Joseph Childs Erickhomie Maria McClatchy	Joseph Childs Sarah Anne Moore McClatchy 💍 1899/3617	Widower Spinster	Butcher Domestic	37 years 27 years	Invercargill Timaru	29 years 3 days	Primitive Methodist Church Timaru	99/3634		22 July 1899	Rev. W. C. Woodward, Primitive Methodist Minister
44	26 July 1899	Arthur James McKenzie Sarah Annie Johnson	Arthur James McKenzie Sarah Annie Johnson 💍 1899/3611	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	21 years 20 years	Timaru Timaru	12 years 20 years	Registrar's Office Timaru	99/3629	W. A. Johnson, Father	31 July 1899	Alex. Montgomery, Registrar
45	27 July 1899	William Harper Henrietta Thomson	William Harper Henrietta Thomson 💍 1899/3773	Bachelor Spinster	Station Overseer	36 years 29 years	Levels Pukeuri near Oamaru	10 years 10 years	Dwelling house of John Thomson Pukeuri	99/3781		27 July 1899	Rev. J. Steven, Presbyterian Minister
46	1 August 1899	Harry Ninham Gooch Gwendoline Jane Clarke	Harry Ninham Gooch Gwendolina Jean Clarke 💍 1899/3662	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Nurse	21 years 26 years	Timaru Timaru	21 years 10 years	Presbyterian Church Timaru	99/3637		1 August 1899	Rev. Jas Chisholm, Presbyterian Minister
47	12 August 1899	Arthur Frederick Stocker Eliza Stevenson	Arthur Frederick Stocker Eliza Stevenson 💍 1899/3612	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Dressmaker	26 years 22 years	Timaru Timaru	3 years 22 years	Registrar's Office Timaru	99/3630		12 August 1899	Alex. Montgomery, Registrar
48	12 August 1899	James Ansley Eliza Ann Gurney	James Ansley Eliza Ann Gurney 💍 1899/3673	Bachelor Spinster	Miller Waitress	25 years 23 years	Timaru Timaru	21 years 23 years	Dwelling house of Mrs Gurney Timaru	99/3638		12 August 1899	Rev. J. Newman Buttle, Wesleyan Minister
49	19 August 1899	Harold Henry Barrar Louisa Holmes	Harold Henry Barrar Louisa Holmes 💍 1899/3618	Bachelor Spinster	Drover Domestic Servant	23 years 22 years	Timaru Timaru	9 months 8 years	Dwelling house of Rev. W. C. Woodward Timaru	99/3635		19 August 1899	Rev. W. C. Woodward, Primitive Methodist Minister

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).