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 555

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 31 December 1899 Registrar William Alfred Barlon

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

1093

4 October 1899

William Norris
Agnes Scott

William Morris
Agnes Scott
💍 1899/3900

Widower
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
None

52
38

Wanhora
Gisborne

16 years
3 days

Residence of Christopher Gray, Wakombe, Gisborne

99/4173

4 October 1899

Rev. F. B. Oldham, Wesleyan

No	1093
Date of Notice	4 October 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Norris	Agnes Scott
BDM Match (96%)	William Morris	Agnes Scott
	💍 1899/3900
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	None
Age	52	38
Dwelling Place	Wanhora	Gisborne
Length of Residence	16 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Christopher Gray, Wakombe, Gisborne
Folio	99/4173
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 October 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. B. Oldham, Wesleyan

1094

16 October 1899

Henry Fletcher Hall
Sarah Rose Carpenter

Henry Fletcher Hall
Sarah Rose Carpenter
💍 1899/5301

Bachelor
Widow

Laborer
Dressmaker

32
30

Gisborne
Gisborne

14 years
7 months

Church of England, Gisborne

99/5424

16 October 1899

Rev. A. S. Webb, Church of England

No	1094
Date of Notice	16 October 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Fletcher Hall	Sarah Rose Carpenter
	💍 1899/5301
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Laborer	Dressmaker
Age	32	30
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	14 years	7 months
Marriage Place	Church of England, Gisborne
Folio	99/5424
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 October 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. S. Webb, Church of England

1095

23 October 1899

Thomas Trumper
Dinah Price

Thomas Trumper
Dinah Price
💍 1899/3902

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Housekeeper

30
21

Te Karaka
Te Karaka

3 years
9 months

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

99/4175

23 October 1899

W. A. Barlon, Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	1095
Date of Notice	23 October 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Trumper	Dinah Price
	💍 1899/3902
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Housekeeper
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Te Karaka	Te Karaka
Length of Residence	3 years	9 months
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	99/4175
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 October 1899
Officiating Minister	W. A. Barlon, Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

1096

31 October 1899

Arthur Hillson
Barbara Ross Cross

Arthur Hillson
Barbara Ross Cross
💍 1899/4270

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Dressmaker

27
20

Gisborne
Gisborne

7 years
2 years

Presbyterian Church, Gisborne

99/5455

31 October 1899

Rev. J. G. Patterson, Presbyterian

No	1096
Date of Notice	31 October 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Hillson	Barbara Ross Cross
	💍 1899/4270
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Dressmaker
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	7 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Gisborne
Folio	99/5455
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Patterson, Presbyterian

1097

7 November 1899

William Henry Jones
Henrietta Julia Parsons

William Henry Jones
Henrietta Julia Parsons
💍 1899/4541

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
None

27
22

Ormond
Ormond

26 years
22 years

Residence of Dalm Pound, situate at Ormond

99/4181

7 November 1899

Rev. J. E. Fox, Church of England

No	1097
Date of Notice	7 November 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Jones	Henrietta Julia Parsons
	💍 1899/4541
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	None
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Ormond	Ormond
Length of Residence	26 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Dalm Pound, situate at Ormond
Folio	99/4181
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 November 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. E. Fox, Church of England

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 1903. 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).