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 553

District of Drury Quarter ending 31 December 1899 Registrar Sam. Walker

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
31	1 October 1899	John Richard Lowry Elizabeth Bregmen	John Richard Lowry Elizabeth Bregman 💍 1899/5331	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 19	Glen Murray Churchhill	4 years 1 year	House of Edward Bregmen	99/4163	Edward Bregmen, Father	4 October 1899	Rev. A. Bradbury, Church of England
32	1 October 1899	James Weir Margaret Jane Wilson	James Weir Margaret Jane Wilson 💍 1899/3892 James Murray Margaret Wilson 💍 1899/3713	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet Maker	32 20	Pukekohe Pukekohe	3 days 12 years	House of Thos. H. Wilson	99/4166	Thos. H. Wilson, Father	1 October 1899	Rev. W. G. Findlay, Presbyterian Minister
33	24 October 1899	Edward Solva Cole Sarah Matilda Middlemas	Edward Solva Cole Sarah Matilda Middlemas 💍 1899/3896	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler Store	38 36	Papakura Papakura	22 years 20 years	Christ Church	99/4170		24 November 1899	Rev. O. R. Hewett, Church of England
34	24 November 1899	Alfred Willis Helen Jane Walter	Alfred Willis Helen Jane Walter 💍 1899/3897	Bachelor Spinster	Keeper Teacher	34 29	Papakura Papakura	28 years 15 years	Christ Church	99/4171		24 November 1899	Rev. O. R. Hewett, Church of England
35	8 December 1899	Thomas Robert Brown Emma Vereoe	Thomas Robert Brown Emma Vercoe 💍 1899/3893	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler	34 23	Bombay Bombay	8 months 2 months	House of Gideon Bisle	99/4167		8 December 1899	Rev. G. Marshall, Wesleyan Minister
36	1 December 1899	George Allewell Maud Morrow	George Attewell Maud Morrow 💍 1899/3891	Bachelor Spinster	Layer	27 21	Pukekohe Pukekohe	5 years 16 years	Registrar's Office, Bombay	99/4165		1 December 1899	Sam. Walker, Registrar of Marriages
37	12 December 1899	Ambrose Palmer Annie Douglas Murray	Ambrose Palmer Annie Douglas Murray 💍 1899/3898	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	31 30	Hunua Hess Valley	23 years 20 years	House of Thos. Murray	99/4172		12 December 1899	Rev. Thos. Horne, Presbyterian Minister
38	26 December 1899	George Ingram Laura Elizabeth Wilson	George Ingram Laura Elizabeth Wilson 💍 1900/399	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	37 33	Bombay Clevedon	5 years 25 years	House of J. S. Wilson	1900/185		26 December 1899	Rev. Thos. Horne, Presbyterian Minister
39	27 December 1899	David Carlisle Hanley Sarah Baguley	David Carlisle Hanley Sarah Baguley 💍 1900/396	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	36 28	Pukekohe Pukekohe	3 days 16 years	House of Richard Baguley	00/182		27 December 1899	Rev. Geo. Marshall, Wesleyan Minister
40	30 December 1899	Hugh Loder Farquhar Margaret Alice McClure	Hugh Ward Farquhar Margaret Alice McClune 💍 1900/398	Bachelor Spinster	Insurance Manager	35 23	Bombay Bombay	3 days 17 years	House of Dr. McClure	00/184		30 December 1899	Rev. Thos. Horne, Presbyterian 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).