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 865

District of Ellesmere Quarter ending 31 December 1899 Registrar C. S. Dudley

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
24	11 November 1899	John Albert Martin Elizabeth Ann McLeary	John Albert McCartin Elizabeth Ann McCleary 💍 1899/4995	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic	30 27	Lakeside Dunsandel	20 years 7 years	Roman Catholic Church Leeston	99/4838		11 November 1899	J. C. Charmer
25	13 November 1899	Walter Cooper Smith Jean Groshie Burns	Walter Cooper Smith Jean Crosbie Burns 💍 1899/4239	Bachelor Spinster	Machinist Domestic	27 24	Routhbridge Routhbridge	3 years 3 years	Mrs Burns	99/5414		13 November 1899	J. Mackie
26	14 November 1899	Thomas Thompson Matilda McGrath	Thomas Thompson Matilda McIlrath 💍 1899/4996	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic	29 23	Killinchy Lakeside	2 years 2 years	Presbyterian Church Leeston	99/4839		14 November 1899	W. Grant
27	14 November 1899	George Arnes Margaret Falloon	George Arres Margaret Falloon 💍 1899/4976	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic	26 28	Waikana Killinchy	2 months 10 years	English Church Killinchy	99/4843		14 November 1899	P. G. Coerlo
28	14 November 1899	Herbert John Jewell Kate Abbott Helcher	Herbert John Jewell Kate Abbott Fletcher 💍 1899/4282	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic	26 20	Brookside Sudholme	18 months 2 years	Wesleyan Church Brookside	99/5443	John Helcher, Father	14 November 1899	J. Griffin
29	7 December 1899	Andrew Allen Mary Jane Branagh	Andrew Allen Margaret Jane Branagh 💍 1899/4977	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic	23 21	Killinchy Killinchy	23 years 21 years	All Saints Church Killinchy	99/4844		7 December 1899	P. G. Coerlo
30	8 December 1899	John Walker Gertrude Wickliffe	John Walker Gertrude Wickliffe 💍 1899/5536	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic	24 24	Dunsandel Routhbridge	24 years 2 years	W. Gebbies House	99/4841		8 December 1899	W. Grant
31	8 December 1899	George Edgar Benny Margaret Thompson	George Edgar Benny Margaret Thompson 💍 1899/4974	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic	39 20	Routhbridge Killinchy	34 years 20 years	Presbyterian Church Leeston	99/4840	Thomas Thompson, Father	8 December 1899	W. Grant
32	27 December 1899	William Alfred Masters Musgrove Agnes Forsyth Quirkson	William Alfred Martin Murfrose Agnes Forsyth Simpson 💍 1899/4978	Bachelor Spinster	Bricklayer Domestic	25 26	Ashburton Routhbridge	25 years 5 weeks	G. P. Simpsons Routhbridge	99/4845		27 December 1899	Rev. G. N. Emm
33	28 December 1899	William McMillan Margaret Thompson	William McMillan Margaret Thompson 💍 1900/1003	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer School Teacher	33 31	Dorie Routhbridge	10 years 1 year	Mrs E. Thompsons Routhbridge	00/961		28 December 1899	P. G. Riddle

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).