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 837

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 December 1899 Registrar Ward

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
1137	03 October 1899	William Anderson Lamb Charlotte Elizabeth Bothwell	William Anderson Lamb Charlotte Elizabeth Protheroe 💍 1899/5493	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 23	Ashburton Elgin	2 years 7 years	Wesleyan Church, Ashburton	99/4722		03 October 1899	Revd. Robert Taylor
1138	09 October 1899	James Edwards Grace Roberts Prisk	James Edwards Grace Roberts Prisk 💍 1899/93	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Milliner	35 31	Ashburton Ashburton	3 days 2 weeks	Registrars Office, Ashburton	99/4721		09 October 1899	J. Ward, Registrar
1139	24 October 1899	Alexander Rae Douglas Mary Gilmour	Alexander Rae Douglas Mary Gilmour 💍 1899/94	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	32 29	Greenstreet Greenstreet	3 days 8 months	Presbyterian Church, Ashburton	99/4723		24 October 1899	Revd. Geo. B. Inglis
1140	28 October 1899	Frederick William Clarkson Agnes McDonald	Frederick William Clarkson Agnes McDonald 💍 1899/92	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	27 20	Ashburton Ashburton	3 days 3 days	Registrars Office, Ashburton	99/4720	Alexander McDonald, father	31 October 1899	J. Ward, Registrar
1141	03 November 1899	George McKnight Frances Marion Morris	George McKnight Frances Marion Morris 💍 1899/119	Bachelor Spinster	Coachsmith Domestic Servant	25 28	Ashburton Ashburton	6 months 3 days	Private dwelling of Richard Simpson, Ashburton	99/4725		03 November 1899	Revd. Robert Raine
1142	06 November 1899	John Thomas McDonald Mary Ellen Madden	John Thomas McDonald Mary Ellen Madden 💍 1899/5318	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Home duties	24 17	Ashburton Ashburton	7 months 17 years	The Catholic Church, Ashburton	99/5474	Patrick Madden, father	06 November 1899	Revd. J. J. O'Donnell
1143	20 November 1899	Thomas Frederick Hammond Mary Amelie Pershay	Thomas Frederick Hammond Mary Amelia Peachey 💍 1899/4227	Bachelor Widow	Police Constable Housewife	33 32	Ashburton Ashburton	4 years 4 weeks	Church of St. Stephen, Ashburton	99/5308		20 November 1899	Revd. R. A. Woodthorpe
1144	25 November 1899	Patrick McCarthy Mary Murphy	Patrick McCarthy Mary Murphy 💍 1899/5319	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Dressmaker	38 27	Rangitata North Methven	20 years 10 years	Catholic Church, Ashburton	99/5475		25 November 1899	Revd. J. J. O'Donnell
1145	14 December 1899	John Bertie Hayward Adeline Fanny Beavis	John Bertie Hayward Adeline Fanny Sears 💍 1899/5494	Bachelor Spinster	Warehouseman	27 31	Christchurch Ashburton	2 years 12 months	Private Dwelling of A. R. Jstace, Christchurch	99/4726		14 December 1899	Revd. William Lamb
1146	16 December 1899	Thomas Arthur Dixon Catherine Williamson	Thomas Arthur Dixon Catherine Williamson 💍 1899/95	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	41 34	Tinwald Allenton	10 years 17 years	Private Residence of Donald Williamson, Allenton	99/4924		16 December 1899	Revd. Geo. B. Inglis
1147	23 December 1899	George Walter Smith Eiley White	George Walter Smith Eilez White 💍 1899/4228	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	32 28	Flemington Flemington	23 years 23 years	St. Stephen's Church, Ashburton	99/5309		23 December 1899	Revd. R. A. Woodthorpe

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).