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 605

District of Paparoa Quarter ending 31 December 1899 Registrar Wm Hook

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

3 October 1899

Ernest George Basford
Mary Ann Sheppard

Ernest Ger Basford
Mary Ann Shepperd
💍 1899/5336

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill Hand

24
22

Te Rapuru
Malahobe

4 years
6 months

Residence of Mr. George Sheppard, Malahobe

99/5310

3 October 1899

Rev. J. J. Pendray

No	6
Date of Notice	3 October 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest George Basford	Mary Ann Sheppard
BDM Match (90%)	Ernest Ger Basford	Mary Ann Shepperd
	💍 1899/5336
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill Hand
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Te Rapuru	Malahobe
Length of Residence	4 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. George Sheppard, Malahobe
Folio	99/5310
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 October 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Pendray

5 October 1899

Ernest Walter Gillard
Mary Cronie

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

33
22

Malahobe
Malahobe

2 months
2 months

Residence of Mr. Thomas Cronie, Malahobe

99/5311

5 October 1899

Rev. J. J. Pendray

No	7
Date of Notice	5 October 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Walter Gillard	Mary Cronie
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	33	22
Dwelling Place	Malahobe	Malahobe
Length of Residence	2 months	2 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Thomas Cronie, Malahobe
Folio	99/5311
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 October 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Pendray

9 October 1899

Louis Blake Smith
Lena Matilda Saunder

Louis Blane Smith
Lena Matilda Samber
💍 1899/4562

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Servant

26
19

Malahobe
Malahobe

27 years
12 months

Registrar's Office, Paparoa

99/4209

Henry Saunder, father

9 October 1899

Wm Hook, Registrar, Paparoa

No	8
Date of Notice	9 October 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Louis Blake Smith	Lena Matilda Saunder
BDM Match (90%)	Louis Blane Smith	Lena Matilda Samber
	💍 1899/4562
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Servant
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Malahobe	Malahobe
Length of Residence	27 years	12 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Paparoa
Folio	99/4209
Consent	Henry Saunder, father
Date of Certificate	9 October 1899
Officiating Minister	Wm Hook, Registrar, Paparoa

8 November 1899

Herbert Henry Neil
Elizabeth Louisa Sebister

Herbert Henry Neil
Elizabeth Louisa Isbister
💍 1899/4561

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill Hand

31
32

Malahobe
Malahobe

4 years
35 months

Residence of Mr. Sebister, Malahobe

99/4208

8 November 1899

Rev. Fred Evershed

No	9
Date of Notice	8 November 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Henry Neil	Elizabeth Louisa Sebister
BDM Match (96%)	Herbert Henry Neil	Elizabeth Louisa Isbister
	💍 1899/4561
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill Hand
Age	31	32
Dwelling Place	Malahobe	Malahobe
Length of Residence	4 years	35 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Sebister, Malahobe
Folio	99/4208
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 November 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. Fred Evershed

13 November 1899

Edward Heinrich Carl Eberhardt
Charlotte Young

Edward Henrich Carl Eberhardt
Charlotte Young
💍 1899/4563

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Housekeeper

38
25

Malahobe
Malahobe

14 years
9 months

Registrar's Office, Paparoa

99/4210

13 November 1899

Wm Hook, Registrar, Paparoa

No	10
Date of Notice	13 November 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Heinrich Carl Eberhardt	Charlotte Young
BDM Match (98%)	Edward Henrich Carl Eberhardt	Charlotte Young
	💍 1899/4563
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Housekeeper
Age	38	25
Dwelling Place	Malahobe	Malahobe
Length of Residence	14 years	9 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Paparoa
Folio	99/4210
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 November 1899
Officiating Minister	Wm Hook, Registrar, Paparoa

13 December 1899

Toma Piri
Raila Taman

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman

24
26

Malahobe
Malahobe

4 months
16 years

Registrar's Office, Paparoa

99/4211

13 December 1899

Wm Hook, Registrar, Paparoa

No	11
Date of Notice	13 December 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Toma Piri	Raila Taman
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Malahobe	Malahobe
Length of Residence	4 months	16 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Paparoa
Folio	99/4211
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 December 1899
Officiating Minister	Wm Hook, Registrar, Paparoa

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).