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 897

District of Timaru Quarter ending 31 December 1899 Registrar Alexr Macpherson

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
68	2 December 1899	Walter Gurdler Emma Alice Huband	Walter Gurdler Emma Alice Huband 💍 1899/4054	Widower Spinster	Bricklayer	28 years 21 years	Timaru Timaru	3 days 2 months	Dwellinghouse of Henry Huband, Talbot St, Timaru	99/4894		2 December 1899	Rev. J. Newman Buttle, Wesleyan Minister
69	4 December 1899	Angus Robert Lavender Margaret May Gabilé	Alfred Robert Lavender Margaret May Gabites 💍 1899/4059	Bachelor Spinster	Ironmonger	27 years 24 years	Timaru Timaru	3 days 24 years	S. Marys Church, Timaru	99/4900		4 December 1899	Ven. Archdeacon H. W. Harper, Church of England Clergyman
70	12 December 1899	John Standidge Ford Elizabeth Ann Williams	John Henbridge Ford Elizabeth Ann Williams 💍 1899/4056	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	28 years 26 years	Waimataitai Glen-iti	3 years 2 years	Dwellinghouse of Wm Williams, Glen-iti	99/4897		12 December 1899	Rev. H. C. Woodward, Primitive Methodist Minister
71	19 December 1899	George Edward Halls Amelia Bartlett	George Edward Watts Amelia Bartlett 💍 1899/4058	Bachelor Spinster	Cordial Manufacturer Weaver	21 years 22 years	Timaru Timaru	13 years 14 years	Dwellinghouse of Mrs Bartlett, Sandietown, Timaru	99/4899		19 December 1899	Rev. H. C. Woodward, Primitive Methodist Minister
72	19 December 1899	Alexander Bell Helen Byers	Alexander Bell Helen Byers 💍 1899/4066	Bachelor Spinster	School Inspector	28 years 22 years	Timaru Timaru	18 months 22 years	Dwellinghouse of Mr Byers, Gibson Street, Timaru	99/4906		19 December 1899	Rev. Wm. Gillies, Presbyterian Minister
73	19 December 1899	Alfred Heath Boys Mary Stewart Dow	Alfred Frank Boys Mary Stewart Dow 💍 1899/4055	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	27 years 24 years	Timaru Timaru	26 years 24 years	Wesleyan Church, Timaru	99/4895		19 December 1899	Rev. J. Newman Buttle, Wesleyan Minister
74	20 December 1899	Sadin Black Allen Margaret Jane Gray		Bachelor Spinster	Wool Sorter	24 years 20 years	Waimataitai Saltwater Creek	4 years 3 months	Salvation Army Barracks, Timaru	99/4901	S. J. Gray, Father	20 December 1899	Major Henry Gallant, Salvation Army Officer
75	20 December 1899	George Newman Sarah Mann	George Newman Sarah Mann 💍 1900/989	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	32 years 27 years	Fairview Timaru	16 years 27 years	Dwellinghouse of Sarah Mann, Timaru	99/4911		20 December 1899	Rev. H. C. Woodward, Primitive Methodist Minister
76	20 December 1899	Alfred James Christmas Charlotte Catherine Wilson	Alfred James Christmas Charlotte Catherine McCaa 💍 1899/4057	Bachelor Spinster	Baker Dressmaker	22 years 19 years	Timaru Timaru	22 years 19 years	Dwellinghouse of George H. Wilson, Church Street, Timaru	99/4898	G. H. Wilson, Guardian	20 December 1899	Rev. H. C. Woodward, Primitive Methodist 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).