Intentions to Marry, 1900 January-June

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840417, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, September 12 2025

1900 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 022

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1900 Registrar E. H. Lyons

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

12 February 1900

Alexander Busby Simpson
Alice Hearne

Alexander Wesley Simpson
Alice Hearne
💍 1900/236

Bachelor
Spinster

Plate-layer

24
27

Auckland
Auckland

3 years
3 years

House of Rev. F. S. Bell, St. Paul's

00/107

12 February 1900

Rev. J. B. Monro, Presbyterian

No	97
Date of Notice	12 February 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Busby Simpson	Alice Hearne
BDM Match (92%)	Alexander Wesley Simpson	Alice Hearne
	💍 1900/236
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plate-layer
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. F. S. Bell, St. Paul's
Folio	00/107
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. B. Monro, Presbyterian

12 February 1900

John Henry Urquhart Parks
Florence Smith

Henry Mayr
Florence Smith
💍 1900/476

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

24
21

Auckland
Auckland

3 years
3 years

Registrar's Office

00/21

12 February 1900

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	98
Date of Notice	12 February 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Urquhart Parks	Florence Smith
BDM Match (66%)	Henry Mayr	Florence Smith
	💍 1900/476
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	00/21
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1900
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

12 February 1900

Thomas Joshua Matts
Amy Sophie Bray

Thomas Joshua Watts
Amy Sophie Bray
💍 1900/167

Bachelor
Spinster

Presser

23
20

Auckland
Auckland

23 years
20 years

House of Mother, Boston Rd, Mt. Eden

00/140

Mother of Bride

12 February 1900

Rev. J. Aldridge, Church of Christ

No	99
Date of Notice	12 February 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Joshua Matts	Amy Sophie Bray
BDM Match (97%)	Thomas Joshua Watts	Amy Sophie Bray
	💍 1900/167
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Presser
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	23 years	20 years
Marriage Place	House of Mother, Boston Rd, Mt. Eden
Folio	00/140
Consent	Mother of Bride
Date of Certificate	12 February 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Aldridge, Church of Christ

100

12 February 1900

Ernest William Laurie
Marcella Ruby Campbell

Ernest William Laurie
Marcella Ruby Campbell
💍 1900/227

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

34
25

Auckland
Auckland

34 years
25 years

All Saints Church, Ponsonby

00/104

12 February 1900

Rev. W. Calder, Church of England

No	100
Date of Notice	12 February 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest William Laurie	Marcella Ruby Campbell
	💍 1900/227
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	34	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	34 years	25 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Ponsonby
Folio	00/104
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Calder, Church of England

101

13 February 1900

George Henry Rayner
Georgina Isabella Pratt

George Henry Rayner
Georgina Isabella Pratt
💍 1900/96

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill Hand

35
34

Auckland
Auckland

35 years
30 years

Registrar's Office

00/20

13 February 1900

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	101
Date of Notice	13 February 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Rayner	Georgina Isabella Pratt
	💍 1900/96
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill Hand
Age	35	34
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	35 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	00/20
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1900
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

102

13 February 1900

William Frederick Morrison
Mary Ann Wheeler

William Frederick Morrison
Mary Ann Wheeler
💍 1900/126

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

23
33

Auckland
Auckland

23 years
11 years

St. James Presbyterian Church, Auckland

00/50

13 February 1900

Rev. R. F. Macnicol, Presbyterian

No	102
Date of Notice	13 February 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Frederick Morrison	Mary Ann Wheeler
	💍 1900/126
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	23	33
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	23 years	11 years
Marriage Place	St. James Presbyterian Church, Auckland
Folio	00/50
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. F. Macnicol, 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 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).