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 195

District of Ashurst Quarter ending 31 March 1890 Registrar Howard Vincent

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

10 January 1890

Alexander Littlejohn
Margaret Lucy Enright

Alexander Littlejohn
Margaret Lucy Enright
💍 1900/416

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd

24
20

Ashurst
Ashurst

5 years
20 years

In the building known as the Roman Catholic Church, Ashurst

00/384

Michael Enright, Father

10 January 1890

Rev. S. W. Tymons

No	1
Date of Notice	10 January 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Littlejohn	Margaret Lucy Enright
	💍 1900/416
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Ashurst	Ashurst
Length of Residence	5 years	20 years
Marriage Place	In the building known as the Roman Catholic Church, Ashurst
Folio	00/384
Consent	Michael Enright, Father
Date of Certificate	10 January 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. W. Tymons

14 January 1890

Henry Sharrow Wycherley
Rachel Scott

Henry Sparrow Wycherley
Rachel Scott
💍 1900/437

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler

24
23

Ashurst
Ashurst

3 Days
3 years

Office of the Registrar at Ashurst

00/381

14 January 1890

Howard Vincent, Registrar

No	2
Date of Notice	14 January 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Sharrow Wycherley	Rachel Scott
BDM Match (98%)	Henry Sparrow Wycherley	Rachel Scott
	💍 1900/437
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Ashurst	Ashurst
Length of Residence	3 Days	3 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar at Ashurst
Folio	00/381
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1890
Officiating Minister	Howard Vincent, Registrar

10 February 1890

Arthur Stanhope Aldrich
Susanna Maria Sent

Arthur Stanhope Aldrich
Susanna Maria Sent
💍 1900/438

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
23

To Komaru
Bunnythorpe

6 months
18 months

Office of the Registrar at Shannon

00/382

9 February 1890

Registrar, Ashurst

No	3
Date of Notice	10 February 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Stanhope Aldrich	Susanna Maria Sent
	💍 1900/438
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	To Komaru	Bunnythorpe
Length of Residence	6 months	18 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar at Shannon
Folio	00/382
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1890
Officiating Minister	Registrar, Ashurst

19 February 1890

Harry Kruse
Elizabeth Letter

Harry Kruse
Elizabeth Setter
💍 1900/415

Widower
Spinster

Farmer

36
22

Raumai
Raumai

12 years
9 days

Office of the Registrar at Ashurst

00/383

19 February 1890

Howard Vincent, Registrar

No	4
Date of Notice	19 February 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Kruse	Elizabeth Letter
BDM Match (97%)	Harry Kruse	Elizabeth Setter
	💍 1900/415
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	36	22
Dwelling Place	Raumai	Raumai
Length of Residence	12 years	9 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar at Ashurst
Folio	00/383
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1890
Officiating Minister	Howard Vincent, Registrar

26 February 1890

Albert Henry Drummond
Cecilia Rebecca Farland

Albert Henry Drummond
Cecilia Rebecca Farland
💍 1900/513

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23
23

Ashurst
Stonybrook

6 years
6 weeks

In the house of William Farland at Stonybrook

00/457

26 February 1890

Rev. W. H. Beck

No	5
Date of Notice	26 February 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Henry Drummond	Cecilia Rebecca Farland
	💍 1900/513
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Ashurst	Stonybrook
Length of Residence	6 years	6 weeks
Marriage Place	In the house of William Farland at Stonybrook
Folio	00/457
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Beck

19 March 1890

Joseph Carmichael
Mary Jane Sinclair

Joseph Carmichael
Mary Jane Sinclair
💍 1900/417

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
21

Pohangina
Pohangina

1 week
9 years

In the house of Thomas Sinclair at Pohangina

00/385

19 March 1890

Rev. James Chisholm

No	6
Date of Notice	19 March 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Carmichael	Mary Jane Sinclair
	💍 1900/417
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Pohangina	Pohangina
Length of Residence	1 week	9 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Thomas Sinclair at Pohangina
Folio	00/385
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Chisholm

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).