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 217

District of Halcombe Quarter ending 31 March 1900 Registrar Jas Purkif

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

29 January 1900

Thorvald Christensen
Helene Hansen

Thorwald Christensen
Helene Hansen
💍 1900/442

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

24
24

Halcombe
Halcombe

2 years
2 years

The residence of H. Hansen, Halcombe

00/410

29 January 1900

The Rev. M. Christensen

No	1
Date of Notice	29 January 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thorvald Christensen	Helene Hansen
BDM Match (98%)	Thorwald Christensen	Helene Hansen
	💍 1900/442
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Halcombe	Halcombe
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	The residence of H. Hansen, Halcombe
Folio	00/410
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1900
Officiating Minister	The Rev. M. Christensen

12 February 1900

John Lenard Low
Stella Theresa Parsons

John Leonard Lowe
Stella Theresa Parsons
💍 1900/441

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer
Nil

26
20

Halcombe
Halcombe

4 days
4 years

The residence of C. Parsons, Halcombe

00/409

Charles Parsons, father

12 February 1900

The Rev. S. Henderson

No	2
Date of Notice	12 February 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Lenard Low	Stella Theresa Parsons
BDM Match (94%)	John Leonard Lowe	Stella Theresa Parsons
	💍 1900/441
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer	Nil
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Halcombe	Halcombe
Length of Residence	4 days	4 years
Marriage Place	The residence of C. Parsons, Halcombe
Folio	00/409
Consent	Charles Parsons, father
Date of Certificate	12 February 1900
Officiating Minister	The Rev. S. Henderson

16 February 1900

John William Rocking
Annie Helen Try

John Dillon Hocking
Annie Helen Fry
💍 1900/443

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nil

31
23

Halcombe
Halcombe

3 months
3 days

St. Michaels Church, Hanway

00/411

16 February 1900

The Rev. Innes-Jones

No	3
Date of Notice	16 February 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Rocking	Annie Helen Try
BDM Match (84%)	John Dillon Hocking	Annie Helen Fry
	💍 1900/443
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nil
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Halcombe	Halcombe
Length of Residence	3 months	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Michaels Church, Hanway
Folio	00/411
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1900
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Innes-Jones

26 February 1900

Edwin Marshall
Millicent Mary Browning

Edwin Marshall
Millicent Mary Browning
💍 1900/444

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

38
23

Halcombe
Marton

22 years
18 years

The residence of B. Browning, Marton, Feilding

00/412

26 February 1900

The Rev. P. L. Jones

No	4
Date of Notice	26 February 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Marshall	Millicent Mary Browning
	💍 1900/444
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	38	23
Dwelling Place	Halcombe	Marton
Length of Residence	22 years	18 years
Marriage Place	The residence of B. Browning, Marton, Feilding
Folio	00/412
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1900
Officiating Minister	The Rev. P. L. Jones

6 March 1900

William Henry Davis
Jesse Eva Cowdrey

William Henry Davis
Jessie Eva Cowdrey
💍 1900/445

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

24
20

Halcombe
Halcombe

18 years
20 years

St. James Church, Halcombe

00/413

6 March 1900

The Rev. Innes-Jones

No	5
Date of Notice	6 March 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Davis	Jesse Eva Cowdrey
BDM Match (97%)	William Henry Davis	Jessie Eva Cowdrey
	💍 1900/445
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Halcombe	Halcombe
Length of Residence	18 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. James Church, Halcombe
Folio	00/413
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1900
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Innes-Jones

10 March 1900

Frederick Silson
Dorothea Augusta Linton

Frederick Silson
Dorothy Augusta Linton
💍 1900/446

Bachelor
Spinster

Hatter
Nil

22
28

Feilding
Halcombe

3 days
11 years

St. John Church, Feilding

00/414

10 March 1900

The Rev. Innes-Jones

No	6
Date of Notice	10 March 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Silson	Dorothea Augusta Linton
BDM Match (96%)	Frederick Silson	Dorothy Augusta Linton
	💍 1900/446
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hatter	Nil
Age	22	28
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Halcombe
Length of Residence	3 days	11 years
Marriage Place	St. John Church, Feilding
Folio	00/414
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1900
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Innes-Jones

12 March 1900

Ernest William Ritney
Mary Louisa Mayhew

Ernest William Kitney
Mary Louisa Mayhew
💍 1900/447

Bachelor
Widow

Hairdresser
Nil

24
32

Halcombe
Halcombe

3 days
2 weeks

St. James Church, Halcombe

00/415

12 March 1900

The Rev. Innes-Jones

No	7
Date of Notice	12 March 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest William Ritney	Mary Louisa Mayhew
BDM Match (98%)	Ernest William Kitney	Mary Louisa Mayhew
	💍 1900/447
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Hairdresser	Nil
Age	24	32
Dwelling Place	Halcombe	Halcombe
Length of Residence	3 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St. James Church, Halcombe
Folio	00/415
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1900
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Innes-Jones

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).