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 842

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 1899 Registrar J. M. 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
440	16 October 1899	Oliver Hensley Eliza Fletcher	Oliver Hensley Eliza Fletcher 💍 1899/4984	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Domestic	27 28	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 24 years	Wesleyan Church, Colombo St, Sydenham	99/4832		16 October 1899	Rev. W. G. Parsonson, Wesleyan
441	17 October 1899	John George Vistick Helen Jenning	John George Fiecken Helen Jennings 💍 1899/5406	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 26	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 25 years	St. Stephens Church, Lincoln	99/5311		17 October 1899	Rev. Arch. Thorpe, Anglican
442	17 October 1899	Daniel Cameron Jane Janet Brown	Daniel Cameron Jane Janet Brown 💍 1899/80	Bachelor Spinster	Coachman Domestic	52 42	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 7 years	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	99/4731		17 October 1899	Registrar J. M. Macpherson
443	17 October 1899	Thomas Charles Natchard Annie Oakley	Thomas Charles Hatchard Annie Oakley 💍 1899/4017	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Domestic	26 29	Christchurch Christchurch	22 years 19 years	St. Saviours Church, Sydenham	99/4762		17 October 1899	Rev. R. A. Scott, Anglican
444	18 October 1899	Frank Myndals Withers Nellie Stubbles	Frank Tyndall Withers Nellie Stubbs 💍 1899/4969	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Tailoress	25 21	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 10 years	Anglican Church, Avonside	99/4772		18 October 1899	Rev. W. A. Pascoe, Anglican
445	18 October 1899	John Neway Jane Hannah Graham		Bachelor Spinster	Tinsmith Bootmaker	20 17	Christchurch Christchurch	20 years 17 years	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	99/4732	Mother	18 October 1899	Registrar J. M. Macpherson
446	18 October 1899	Frederick Beaver Margaret Taylor	Frederick William Robert Reynold Margaret Taylor 💍 1899/4190	Widower Spinster	Laborer Domestic	49 28	Christchurch Christchurch	22 years 28 years	Rev. B. W. Taylor, Linwood	99/4774		18 October 1899	Rev. C. H. Laws, Wesleyan
447	19 October 1899	James Ryle Sarah Leach	James Kyle Sarah Ann Genet 💍 1899/82 James Peters Sarah Henry 💍 1900/436	Bachelor Spinster	Brickmaker Domestic	28 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 21 years	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	99/4733		19 October 1899	Registrar J. M. Macpherson

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).