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 032

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

157

9 March 1900

Mortimer William Shroff
Martha Rhoda Clarke

Mortimer William Shroff
Bessie Martha Rhoda Clarke
💍 1900/219

Bachelor
Spinster

Stonemason

25
33

Auckland
Parnell

17 years
3 years

Bishop's Court

00/115

9 March 1900

Rev. Arch. E. B. Clarke, Ch. of Eng.

No	157
Date of Notice	9 March 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Mortimer William Shroff	Martha Rhoda Clarke
BDM Match (87%)	Mortimer William Shroff	Bessie Martha Rhoda Clarke
	💍 1900/219
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stonemason
Age	25	33
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Parnell
Length of Residence	17 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Bishop's Court
Folio	00/115
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. Arch. E. B. Clarke, Ch. of Eng.

158

9 March 1900

Friedrich Wilhelm Adolf Pinseler
Florence Duceville Thorpe

Fredrick Wilhelm Adolf Penseler
Florence Dunnville Thorpe
💍 1900/156

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

26
23

Auckland
Remuera

3 years
3 years

St. Marks Church

00/99

9 March 1900

Rev. W. Beatty, Ch. of Eng.

No	158
Date of Notice	9 March 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Friedrich Wilhelm Adolf Pinseler	Florence Duceville Thorpe
BDM Match (91%)	Fredrick Wilhelm Adolf Penseler	Florence Dunnville Thorpe
	💍 1900/156
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Remuera
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Marks Church
Folio	00/99
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Beatty, Ch. of Eng.

159

10 March 1900

Peter Anton Stein
Margaret Reby Sinclair

Peter Anton Stein
Margaret Reby Sinclair
💍 1900/2584

Widower
Widow

Master Mariner

49
34

Auckland
Ponsonby

13 years
13 years

The Bride's Residence

00/1328

10 March 1900

Rev. R. Sommerville, Presbyt.

No	159
Date of Notice	10 March 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Anton Stein	Margaret Reby Sinclair
	💍 1900/2584
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Master Mariner
Age	49	34
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Ponsonby
Length of Residence	13 years	13 years
Marriage Place	The Bride's Residence
Folio	00/1328
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Sommerville, Presbyt.

160

12 March 1900

William Hick Coleman Cleare
Lily Frances Gurney

William Hick Coleman Cleave
Lily Frances Gurney
💍 1900/2585

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32
24

Auckland
Grey Lynn

34 days
34 days

Rev. R. Sommerville's House

00/1329

12 March 1900

Rev. R. Sommerville, Presbyt.

No	160
Date of Notice	12 March 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hick Coleman Cleare	Lily Frances Gurney
BDM Match (98%)	William Hick Coleman Cleave	Lily Frances Gurney
	💍 1900/2585
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Grey Lynn
Length of Residence	34 days	34 days
Marriage Place	Rev. R. Sommerville's House
Folio	00/1329
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Sommerville, Presbyt.

161

12 March 1900

Daniel McBeth
Susannah Johnston

Daniel McKeith
Susannah Johnston
💍 1900/220

Bachelor
Spinster

Orchardist

36
26

Auckland
Kingsland

3 days
3 days

House of W. H. Patterson

00/116

12 March 1900

Rev. J. F. Chapman, Wesleyan

No	161
Date of Notice	12 March 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel McBeth	Susannah Johnston
BDM Match (93%)	Daniel McKeith	Susannah Johnston
	💍 1900/220
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Orchardist
Age	36	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Kingsland
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	House of W. H. Patterson
Folio	00/116
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Chapman, Wesleyan

162

12 March 1900

William Edward Patterson
Ellen Barlow

William Edward Patterson
Ellen Barlow
💍 1900/131

Bachelor
Spinster

Foreman

26
26

Auckland
Auckland

26 years
6 years

Registrar's Office

00/32

12 March 1900

J. Culpan, Deputy Registrar

No	162
Date of Notice	12 March 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edward Patterson	Ellen Barlow
	💍 1900/131
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Foreman
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	26 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	00/32
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1900
Officiating Minister	J. Culpan, Deputy 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).