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 030

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1900

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

145

1 March 1900

David Lyle Costar
Amy Henrietta Costar

David Lye
Amy Henrietta Costar
💍 1900/186

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

21
20

Auckland
Auckland

21 years
20 years

House of Father of Bride, Auburn St

00/143

Charles Costar, father of bride

1 March 1900

Rev. J. Aldridge, Church of Christ

No	145
Date of Notice	1 March 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Lyle Costar	Amy Henrietta Costar
BDM Match (76%)	David Lye	Amy Henrietta Costar
	💍 1900/186
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	21 years	20 years
Marriage Place	House of Father of Bride, Auburn St
Folio	00/143
Consent	Charles Costar, father of bride
Date of Certificate	1 March 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Aldridge, Church of Christ

146

2 March 1900

John Thomas Alexander Giles
Edith Annie Aspinall

John Thomas Alexander Giles
Edith Annie Aspinall
💍 1900/743

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

22
22

Auckland
15 Wellesley Street

22 years
15 years

Union Free Church

00/156

2 March 1900

Rev. W. H. Salter, Union Free Church

No	146
Date of Notice	2 March 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Alexander Giles	Edith Annie Aspinall
	💍 1900/743
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	15 Wellesley Street
Length of Residence	22 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Union Free Church
Folio	00/156
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Salter, Union Free Church

147

2 March 1900

Charles William White
Minnie Isabel Pelham

Charles William White
Minnie Isabel Pelham
💍 1900/171

Bachelor
Spinster

Torpedo Man

27
23

Auckland
Auckland

3 years
23 years

St. Matthew's Church

00/152

2 March 1900

Rev. W. E. Fillam, Church of England

No	147
Date of Notice	2 March 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles William White	Minnie Isabel Pelham
	💍 1900/171
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Torpedo Man
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church
Folio	00/152
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Fillam, Church of England

148

2 March 1900

Howell Roger Jones
Margaret Cormack

Howell Rogers Jones
Margaret Cormack
💍 1900/2502

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

28
27

Auckland
Lawrence, Otago

16 years
10 years

House of Father of Bride, Lawrence, Otago

00/1130

2 March 1900

Rev. J. A. Will, Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland

No	148
Date of Notice	2 March 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Howell Roger Jones	Margaret Cormack
BDM Match (97%)	Howell Rogers Jones	Margaret Cormack
	💍 1900/2502
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Lawrence, Otago
Length of Residence	16 years	10 years
Marriage Place	House of Father of Bride, Lawrence, Otago
Folio	00/1130
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Will, Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland

149

6 March 1900

Andrew Creighton Cunningham
Mary Ann Reeves

Andrew Creighton Cunningham
Mary Ann Reeves
💍 1900/157

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

31
27

Dunedin
Auckland

10 years
5 years

Church of England

00/100

6 March 1900

Rev. J. Rickbride, Church of England

No	149
Date of Notice	6 March 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Creighton Cunningham	Mary Ann Reeves
	💍 1900/157
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	31	27
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	00/100
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Rickbride, Church of England

150

6 March 1900

Thomas Robert Orr
Beatrice Alice Cole

Thomas Robert Orr
Beatrice Olive Cole
💍 1900/723

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

31
21

Auckland
Auckland

1 year
4 years

Congregational Church, Holy Beresford Street

00/61

6 March 1900

Rev. J. Parker, Congregational Independent

No	150
Date of Notice	6 March 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Robert Orr	Beatrice Alice Cole
BDM Match (95%)	Thomas Robert Orr	Beatrice Olive Cole
	💍 1900/723
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 year	4 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Holy Beresford Street
Folio	00/61
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Parker, Congregational Independent

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).