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 048

District of Drury Quarter ending 31 March 1900 Registrar Saml. Walker

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
1	4 January 1900	David Hobbs Ellen Keaney	David Nobbs Ellen Keaney 💍 1900/413	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	34 25	Ararimu S. Ararimu S.	23 years 18 years	House of Laughlin Keaney	00/175		4 January 1900	Rev. J. L. Ahern, R. C. C.
2	12 January 1900	Adolphus Bright Ellen Matilda Roose	Adolphus Wright Ellen Matilda Roose 💍 1900/397	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer maker	29 28	Pukekohe Pukekohe	20 years 20 years	House of Elijah Roose	00/183		12 January 1900	Rev. Geo. Marshall, Wesleyan Minister
3	26 January 1900	Joseph Goodwin Sarah Miller		Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 26	Pukekohe Pukekohe	18 years 18 years	Registrar's Office, Drury	00/179		26 January 1900	Saml. Walker, Registrar of Marriages
4	27 January 1900	Thomas Place Bessie Ballard	Thomas Sloane Bessie Ballard 💍 1900/391	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer dressmaker	30 22	Runciman Runciman	14 years 17 years	House of Reuben Bradbury	00/177		27 January 1900	George Aldridge
5	5 February 1900	Reuben Bradbury Emily Nugent	Reuben Bradbury Emily Nugent 💍 1900/412	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 21	Drury Opaheke	6 years 3 months	Registrar's Office, Drury	00/194		5 February 1900	Saml. Walker, Registrar of Marriages
6	19 February 1900	Charles Daykin Kemp Mabel Goldsborough	Charles Daykin Kemp Mabel Embling 💍 1900/164	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	31 26	Brookby Brookby	20 years 18 years	Brookby Church	00/184		19 February 1900	Rev. R. G. Boler, Church of England
7	22 February 1900	Nicholas Lukich Mary Keave	Nicholas Lukich Mary Keane 💍 1900/390	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	32 22	Pukekohe Pukekohe	2 months 16 years	R. C. Chapel	00/196		22 February 1900	Rev. J. L. Ahern, R. C. C.
8	26 February 1900	Robert Fulton Mary Woods	Robert Fulton Mary Woods 💍 1900/181	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 31	Puni Pukekohe	12 months 22 years	House of Elizabeth Woods, Pukekohe	00/193		26 February 1900	Rev. Wm. F. Findlay, Presbyterian Minister
9	27 February 1900	John Carter Martha McIlroy	John Carter Martha McIlroy 💍 1900/393	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 23	Paparata Paparata	7 years 15 years	House of Alexander McIlroy	00/199		27 February 1900	Rev. F. B. Dobson, Church of England
10	3 March 1900	James Herbert Bates Gertrude Winifred Bradbury	James Herbert Bates Gertrude Winifred Bradbury 💍 1900/5927	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 19	Papakura Papakura	10 years 6 years	House of Ottilie Bradbury	00/186	Her Father	3 March 1900	Rev. Thos. Horne, Presbyterian Minister
11	5 March 1900	George Common Lizzie Evans	George Common Lizzie Evans 💍 1900/392	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	29 25	Bombay Bombay	3 years 17 years	House of William Evans, Bombay	00/198		5 March 1900	Rev. F. B. Dobson, Church of England
12	5 March 1900	Arthur Bertram Collier Mary Ellen Madill	Arthur Berthram Collier Mary Ellen Madill 💍 1900/395	Bachelor Spinster	Bone Miller	23 23	Tuakau Tuakau	3 years 19 years	Tuakau Church	00/181		5 March 1900	Rev. F. Findlay, Presbyterian Minister
13	10 March 1900	William John Mumford Easton Hunter Young	William John Mumford Easton Hunter Young 💍 1900/402	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	29 24	Papakura Papakura	2 months 18 years	House of John B. Young	00/188		10 March 1900	Rev. Thos. Horne, Presbyterian Minister

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).