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 113

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 September 1899 Registrar E. Howis

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

9 August 1899

George Anderson Murray
Annie Eliza Polkinghorne

George Anderson Murray
Annie Eliza Polkinghorne
💍 1899/2978

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

27
22

Thames
Thames

27 years
22 years

The Dwelling of Walter Robinson, Bird in Hand Hill

99/3025

9 August 1899

Rev. Edward Drake, Primitive Methodist

No	46
Date of Notice	9 August 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Anderson Murray	Annie Eliza Polkinghorne
	💍 1899/2978
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	27 years	22 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of Walter Robinson, Bird in Hand Hill
Folio	99/3025
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 August 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. Edward Drake, Primitive Methodist

15 August 1899

John William Neve
Hannah Eliza Fleming

John William Neve
Hannah Eliza Fleming
💍 1899/2979

Widower
Widow

Miner
Domestic

39
33

Warehoe
Warehoe

13 years
3 weeks

The Dwelling of Thomas Cooper Warehoe

99/3026

15 August 1899

Rev. Edward Drake, Primitive Methodist

No	47
Date of Notice	15 August 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Neve	Hannah Eliza Fleming
	💍 1899/2979
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	39	33
Dwelling Place	Warehoe	Warehoe
Length of Residence	13 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of Thomas Cooper Warehoe
Folio	99/3026
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 August 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. Edward Drake, Primitive Methodist

21 August 1899

John Henry Adams
Margaret Hennessey

John Henry Adams
Margaret Hennessey
💍 1899/3140

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic Servant

27
27

Thames
Thames

2 days
27 years

The Dwelling of Patk. Hennessey Moanataiari Creek

99/3030

22 August 1899

Rev. William Mahoney, Roman Catholic

No	48
Date of Notice	21 August 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Adams	Margaret Hennessey
	💍 1899/3140
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic Servant
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 days	27 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of Patk. Hennessey Moanataiari Creek
Folio	99/3030
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 August 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Mahoney, Roman Catholic

24 August 1899

William Bash
Ethel Louisa Hill

William Bath
Ethel Louisa Hill
💍 1899/2980

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
None

21
20

Parawai Thames
Thames

2 years
2 weeks

The Dwelling of Mary Rollerson Lander St Block 27

99/3027

Louisa Paull, Mother

30 August 1899

Rev. Edward Drake, Primitive Methodist

No	49
Date of Notice	24 August 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Bash	Ethel Louisa Hill
BDM Match (96%)	William Bath	Ethel Louisa Hill
	💍 1899/2980
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	None
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Parawai Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 years	2 weeks
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of Mary Rollerson Lander St Block 27
Folio	99/3027
Consent	Louisa Paull, Mother
Date of Certificate	30 August 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. Edward Drake, Primitive Methodist

31 August 1899

Ernest Edward Syms
Martha McCollum

Ernest Edward Syms
Martha McCollum
💍 1899/2974

Bachelor
Spinster

Groom
Housemaid

22
21

Thames
Thames

22 years
21 years

The Dwelling of Wm Brown, Hape Creek

99/3022

31 August 1899

Rev. John Mackenzie, Presbyterian

No	50
Date of Notice	31 August 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Edward Syms	Martha McCollum
	💍 1899/2974
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Groom	Housemaid
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	22 years	21 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of Wm Brown, Hape Creek
Folio	99/3022
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1899
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Mackenzie, Presbyterian

1 September 1899

Edmund Wade
Ellen Amelia Grace Dix

Edmund Wade
Ellen Amelia Grace Dix
💍 1899/2972

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Domestic Servant

24
21

Thames
Thames

8 months
21 years

The Office of the Registrar Thames

99/3020

1 September 1899

Edward Honiss, Registrar

No	51
Date of Notice	1 September 1899
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmund Wade	Ellen Amelia Grace Dix
	💍 1899/2972
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Domestic Servant
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	8 months	21 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar Thames
Folio	99/3020
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 September 1899
Officiating Minister	Edward Honiss, Registrar

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 1903. 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).