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 968

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 December 1899 Registrar John Logan Bush

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
139	27 November 1899	Charles Edward Marsh Lizzie Collaty	Charles Edward Marsh Lizzie Collatz 💍 1899/5102	Bachelor Spinster	Hairdresser	26 20	Bluff Georgetown Invercargill	2 years 20 years	House of Mrs Charles Anderson Georgetown	99/5083	Emily Anderson Mother of minor	27 November 1899	Rev J. A. Ryburn
140	5 December 1899	William Cox Mary Catherine Brownie	William Cox Mary Catherine Morrin 💍 1899/4103	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	24 26	Invercargill Invercargill	3 days 3 days	Office of Registrar of Marriages Invercargill	99/5062		5 December 1899	J. L. Bush Registrar
141	11 December 1899	George Bond Christina Somerville	George Bond Christina Somerville 💍 1899/4104	Bachelor Spinster	Bushman	24 22	Waimatua Waimatua	6 months 7 months	Office of Registrar of Marriages Invercargill	99/5063		11 December 1899	J. L. Bush Registrar
142	12 December 1899	Robert Russell Ann Park Wilson	Robert Russell Ann Park Wilson 💍 1899/5272	Widower Spinster	Grazier	29 22	Waikivi Waikivi	6 years 12 months	House of Mrs John Russell Waikivi	99/5392		12 December 1899	Rev J Cumming
143	12 December 1899	Donald Oscar Reichel Susan Brownridge	Oswald Oscar Reichel Susan Brownridge 💍 1899/4105	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	29 27	Orepuki Invercargill	20 years 3 days	Office of Registrar of Marriages	99/5064		12 December 1899	J. L. Bush Registrar
144	13 December 1899	Guilbert Shirreffs Janet Swagman Hay	Nisbet Shirreffs Janet Margaret Hay 💍 1900/2519	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	28 25	Invercargill Invercargill	25 years 16 years	House of Mr W. Hay Tweed Street Invercargill	1900/1154		13 December 1899	Rev A Poole
145	13 December 1899	James Ewart Elizabeth Clark	James McNeill Elizabeth Clark 💍 1899/5114	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 29	Ryal Bush Ryal Bush	5 years 22 years	House of Mr David Clark Ryal Bush	99/5071		13 December 1899	Rev Tom White
146	18 December 1899	Robert James Road Emma Fotheringham	Robert James Roach Emma Fotheringham Hawke 💍 1899/5098	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	32 26	Invercargill Invercargill	5 years 26 years	House of Mr William Hawke Spey Street	99/5079		18 December 1899	Rev J. A. Luxford

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).