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 848

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 1899 Registrar J W Maukeson

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
478	13 November 1899	William James Sutherland Ann Jane McAlcon	William James Sutherland Anne Jane McAloon 💍 1899/4094	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	25 24	Papanui Papanui	4 days 2 weeks	St. Marys Church Manchester St	99/4810	13 November 1899	Rev W. J. Mannane, Roman Catholic
479	14 November 1899	George Griffith Rollinson Alice Eliza Rice	George Griffiths Alice Eliza Rollinson 💍 1899/4963	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 26	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 1 week	St. Marks Church Opawa	99/4779	14 November 1899	Rev G. I. Cholmondeley, Anglican
480	14 November 1899	Henry Proctor Mercer Lilian Margaret McHaff	Henry Proctor Mercer Lilian Margaret McHarg 💍 1899/4964	Bachelor Spinster	Station Master	30 26	Burnham Opawa	7 years 3 weeks	St. Marks Church Opawa	99/4780	14 November 1899	Ven Archd. Cholmondeley, Anglican
481	14 November 1899	Joseph John Burrows Esther Falkinder	Joseph John Burrows Esther Fackinder 💍 1899/4088	Bachelor Spinster	Moulder	23 21	Christchurch Christchurch	18 years 21 years	St. Matthews Church St. Albans	99/4827	14 November 1899	Rev H. Williams, Anglican
482	14 November 1899	William Shaw Jessie Annie Davy	William Shaw Jessie Annie Davy 💍 1899/88	Bachelor Spinster	Jockey Dressmaker	32 34	Christchurch Christchurch	3 months 3 months	Registrars Office	99/4739	14 November 1899	Registrar of Marriages, J W Maukeson
483	15 November 1899	William Henry Turvey Rosa Boon	William Henry Turvey Rosa Boon 💍 1899/4095	Bachelor Spinster	Produce Merchant	41 31	Christchurch Christchurch	6 years 31 years	Wesleyan Church Upper Riccarton	99/4811	15 November 1899	Rev W Lee, Wesleyan
484	16 November 1899	Joseph Teague Julia Dixon	Joseph Teague Julia Dixon 💍 1899/4990	Widower Spinster	Painter Saleswoman	45 40	Christchurch Christchurch	25 years 3 years	House of Julia Dixon, Scotts Road, Sydenham	99/4833	16 November 1899	Rev H. Bull, Wesleyan
485	17 November 1899	Frederick Hight Sarah Ann Gudsell	Frederick Hight Sarah Ann Gudsell 💍 1899/4044	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 31	Christchurch Christchurch	27 years 31 years	Wesleyan Church Weedon	99/4804	17 November 1899	Rev C. Griffin, Wesleyan

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).