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 117

District of Tauranga Quarter ending 31 March 1900 Registrar Charles Frederick Potter

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

342

9 January 1900

Walter Wright
Ethel Forbett

Walter Wright
Ethel Corbett
💍 1900/210

Bachelor
Spinster

artist
Nil

33
21

Tauranga
Tauranga

17 days
6 months

Office of the Registrar of Marriages

00/223

9 January 1900

C. F. Potter, Deputy Registrar

No	342
Date of Notice	9 January 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Wright	Ethel Forbett
BDM Match (96%)	Walter Wright	Ethel Corbett
	💍 1900/210
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	artist	Nil
Age	33	21
Dwelling Place	Tauranga	Tauranga
Length of Residence	17 days	6 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	00/223
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1900
Officiating Minister	C. F. Potter, Deputy Registrar

343

16 January 1900

George Whitaker
Susan Williams

George Whitaker
Susan Williams
💍 1900/211

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Nil

23
19

Te Puke
Te Puke

4 months
19 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages

00/224

Hana Naki, mother

16 January 1900

C. F. Potter, Deputy Registrar

No	343
Date of Notice	16 January 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Whitaker	Susan Williams
	💍 1900/211
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Nil
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Te Puke	Te Puke
Length of Residence	4 months	19 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	00/224
Consent	Hana Naki, mother
Date of Certificate	16 January 1900
Officiating Minister	C. F. Potter, Deputy Registrar

344

10 March 1900

Walter Brown
Agnes Henry

Walter Brown
Agnes Henry
💍 1900/5688

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Nil

26
20

Tauranga
Katikati

3 days
16 years

Residence of Thomas Henry, Katikati

00/5816

Thomas Henry, father

10 March 1900

Rev. Thomas Scott, Presbyterian Minister

No	344
Date of Notice	10 March 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Brown	Agnes Henry
	💍 1900/5688
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Nil
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Tauranga	Katikati
Length of Residence	3 days	16 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Thomas Henry, Katikati
Folio	00/5816
Consent	Thomas Henry, father
Date of Certificate	10 March 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Scott, Presbyterian Minister

345

17 March 1900

Henry John Anderson
Elizabeth Clarke

Henry John Anderson
Elizabeth Clarke
💍 1900/213

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Nil

23
23

Auckland
Tauranga

3 days
23 years

Residence of C. A. Clarke, Tauranga

00/226

17 March 1900

Rev. Chas. Jordan, Church of England Minister

No	345
Date of Notice	17 March 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry John Anderson	Elizabeth Clarke
	💍 1900/213
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Nil
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Tauranga
Length of Residence	3 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of C. A. Clarke, Tauranga
Folio	00/226
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 March 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. Chas. Jordan, Church of England Minister

346

17 March 1900

John Alois Ball
Mabel Sarah Benner

John Alvis Ball
Mabel Sarah Benner
💍 1900/212

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nil

27
20

Maketu
Maketu

3 years
7 years

Residence of John Henry Benner, Pongakawa

00/225

John Henry Benner, father

17 March 1900

Rev. Wm. Goodyear, Church of England Minister

No	346
Date of Notice	17 March 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alois Ball	Mabel Sarah Benner
BDM Match (97%)	John Alvis Ball	Mabel Sarah Benner
	💍 1900/212
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nil
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Maketu	Maketu
Length of Residence	3 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John Henry Benner, Pongakawa
Folio	00/225
Consent	John Henry Benner, father
Date of Certificate	17 March 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Goodyear, Church of England Minister

347

21 March 1900

Peter Gibson Clark
Eleanor Grace Jordan

Peter Gibsons Clark
Eleanor Jane Gordon
💍 1900/214

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Nil

28
24

Punchis Stream, Opunake
Tauranga

6 months
24 years

Trinity Church, Tauranga

00/227

21 March 1900

Rev. Chas. Jordan, Church of England Minister

No	347
Date of Notice	21 March 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Gibson Clark	Eleanor Grace Jordan
BDM Match (85%)	Peter Gibsons Clark	Eleanor Jane Gordon
	💍 1900/214
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Nil
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Punchis Stream, Opunake	Tauranga
Length of Residence	6 months	24 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Church, Tauranga
Folio	00/227
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 March 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. Chas. Jordan, Church of England 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 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).