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 642

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 31 December 1899 Registrar C. E. Nicholas

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
36	14 October 1899	Patrick Whorskey Marie Theresa Deanes	Patrick Whorskey Maria Theresa Deane 💍 1899/4605	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	24 22	Hikurangi Kiripaka	life 4 months	Residence of M. M. Callaghan, Kiripara	99/4247		14 October 1899	Rev. Father Smiers
37	17 October 1899	William Moordaff Litt Harriett Morgan	William Mondeff Litt Harriett Morgan 💍 1899/4614	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 21	Maunu Otaika	3 years life	Christchurch, Whangarei	99/4251		17 October 1899	Rev. J. H. Hawkes M.A.
38	27 October 1899	Wii Moa na Nui Heana Hiewa	[Name Wir Moananue Gender Male Marriage Year 1899 Marriage Place New Zealand Spouse Diana H?? Relation Bridegroom Folio Number 4248]	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	21 18	Ngunguru Parua Bay	1 year life	Office Registrar, Whangarei	99/4248	Rewi manu Araki, Grandfather	27 October 1899	The Registrar
39	28 October 1899	Donald McKenzie Kate Ann McLennan	Donald McKenzie Kate Ann McLennan 💍 1899/4594	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	31 24	Waipu Kaurihohore	life life	Presbyterian Church, Kaurihohore	99/4246		28 October 1899	Rev. W. Thomson
40	20 November 1899	Albert Henry Berry Mary Holmes	Albert Henry Berry Mary Holmes 💍 1899/4612	Bachelor Widow	Miner	23 25	Hikurangi Hikurangi	8 years 7 months	Office Registrar, Whangarei	99/4249		20 November 1899	The Registrar
41	13 December 1899	Christen Lawson Louisa Hope Shoebridge	Christin Larsen Louisa Hope Shoebridge 💍 1899/4615	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	50 34	Ngunguru Ngunguru	20 years 3 years	Residence of Shoebridge, Ngunguru	99/4252		13 December 1899	Rev. L. L. Cubitt
42	20 December 1899	George Thomas Maddren Harriett Rebecca Gowen	George Thomas Maddren Harriett Rebecca Girven 💍 1899/4613	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	22 21	Whakapara Hikurangi	9 months 5 years	Residence of Bride's Parents, Hikurangi	99/4250		20 December 1899	Rev. B. F. Rothwell

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).