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 896

District of Timaru Quarter ending 31 December 1899 Registrar Alexander Montgomery

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
58	3 October 1899	Frederick Babcock Teresa Bowker	Frederick Mulcock Teresa Bowker 💍 1899/4072	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	35 years 27 years	Timaru Timaru	3 days 27 years	Dwelling house of Charles Bowker	99/4892		3 October 1899	Rev. J. Norman Buttle, Wesleyan Minister
59	4 October 1899	Norman Kershaw Cox Florence Mabel Moss	Norman Kershaw Cox Florence Mabel Moss 💍 1899/4948	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	29 years 22 years	Timaru Greymouth	7 years 18 years	Trinity English Church	99/4694		4 October 1899	Rev. Guy York, Church of England Clergyman
60	14 October 1899	George Edward Bromwich Harriett Coppin	George Edward Berwarick Harriett Coppin 💍 1899/5476	Bachelor Spinster	Trimmer Machinist	23 years 25 years	Timaru Timaru	2 years 5 years	Primitive Methodist Church, Timaru	99/4896		14 October 1899	Rev. H. C. Woodward, Primitive Methodist Minister
61	24 October 1899	William Whitby May Elizabeth Hutton Miller		Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker Domestic Servant	19 years 20 years	Timaru Timaru	11 years 20 years	Dwelling house of Wm. Miller, Timaru	99/4904	Adam Miller, father of bride	24 October 1899	Rev. Wm. Gillies, Presbyterian Minister
62	4 November 1899	William Taylor Annie Eliza Thin	William Taylor Annie Eliza Thin 💍 1899/4061	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 years 25 years	Saltwater Creek Washdyke	2 months 3 months	Dwelling house of Francis Forbes	99/4902		4 November 1899	Rev. George Burgess, Congregational Minister
63	8 November 1899	Samuel Hearn Annie Hearn	Samuel Wham Annie Tacon 💍 1899/4065	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	29 years 20 years	Claremont Claremont	6 years 9 years	Dwelling house of Rev. Wm. Gillies, Timaru	99/4905	Robert Hearn, father of bride	8 November 1899	Rev. Wm. Gillies, Presbyterian Minister
64	13 November 1899	Joseph Hart Beswick Florence Mabel Purdy	Joseph Mark Beswarick Florence Violet Furby 💍 1899/4070	Bachelor Spinster	Woolworker	22 years 21 years	Timaru Timaru	5 years 7 years	Registrar's Office	99/4890		13 November 1899	Alex. Montgomery, Registrar
65	15 November 1899	Daniel Charles Niall Elizabeth Matilda Cullimore	Daniel Charles Niall Elizabeth Matilda Cullimore 💍 1899/4071	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 years 20 years	Timaru Timaru	20 years 20 years	Registrar's Office	99/4891	Joseph Cullimore, father of bride	15 November 1899	Alex. Montgomery, Registrar
66	17 November 1899	George Philip Annie Florence Julia Aburn	George Philp Annie Florence Julia Aburn 💍 1900/2500	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor Dressmaker	28 years 26 years	Timaru Dunedin	8 months 7 years	Dwelling house of Samuel Aburn, Leith St., Dunedin	00/1080		17 November 1899	Charles Hall, Church of Christ, Dunedin
67	27 November 1899	William Fowler Annie Rhoda Waters	William Fowler Annie Rhoda Waters 💍 1899/4073	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Weaver	29 years 19 years	Waimatekai Timaru	2 months 19 years	Dwelling house of Chas. S. Waters, Brown St., Timaru	99/4893	Chas. S. Waters, father of bride	27 November 1899	Rev. J. Norman Buttle, Wesleyan Minister

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).