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 165

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 September 1899

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
46	22 August 1899	John Couper Jane Haslett Black	John Cooper Jane Haslet Mack 💍 1899/3180	Widower Widow	Land Agent	46 35	Napier Napier	2 years 10 years	Presbyterian Manse, Napier	99/3164		22 August 1899	Rev. I. A. Asher, Presbyterian
47	24 August 1899	Robert John Moyle Ada Matilda King	Robert John Moyle Ada Matilda King 💍 1899/3178	Bachelor Spinster	Stevedore Domestic	24 18	Napier Napier	2 1/2 years 18 years	Residence of Mr. G. D. Cox, Napier	99/3162	James King, Father	24 August 1899	Rev. G. D. Cox, Baptist
48	30 August 1899	William Allan Grace Alice Shemmings	William Allen Grace Alice Shemmings 💍 1899/3181	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper Domestic	30 27	Napier Napier	4 months 3 weeks	Residence of Mr. Procter, Carmon Road, Napier	99/3165		30 August 1899	Rev. I. A. Asher, Presbyterian
49	4 September 1899	Herbert Charles Palairet Woolmar Florence Peacock	Herbert Charles Palaviet Woolmer Florence Peacock 💍 1899/4345	Bachelor Spinster	Civil Engineer	28 27	Maratoto, Napier Napier	2 years, 4 days 27 years	The Cathedral, Napier	99/3892		4 September 1899	Dean Hovell, Church of England
50	9 September 1899	Roger Plummer Kate McCleary	Roger Plummer Kate McCleary 💍 1899/3244	Bachelor Spinster	Hairdresser Domestic	23 21	Hastings, Napier Napier	10 years, 1 month 3 months	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Napier	99/3154		9 September 1899	S. J. Jago, Registrar
51	12 September 1899	John Henry Carpendale McKennie Adelaide Mary Gebbie	John Henry Carpendale McKennie Adelaide Mary Gibbie 💍 1899/4346	Bachelor Spinster	Railway Fireman Domestic	23 24	Napier Napier	18 years 2 years	The Cathedral, Napier	99/3893		12 September 1899	Dean Hovell, Church of England
52	14 September 1899	Joseph John Summers Winnett Ethel Hunt	Joseph John Summers Winnett Ethel Hunt 💍 1899/3246	Bachelor Spinster	Seaman Domestic	30 22	Spit Napier	2 years 22 years	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Napier	99/3155		14 September 1899	S. J. Jago, Registrar
53	16 September 1899	Robert Finch Harris Rosa Margaret Earl Lindsay	Robert Finch Harris Rosa Margaret Earl Lindsay 💍 1899/3182	Widower Spinster	Commercial Traveller Teacher	38 29	Christchurch Napier	3 months 29 years	Residence of Bride's Mother, Bluff Hill, Napier	99/3166		16 September 1899	Rev. I. A. Asher, Presbyterian

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).