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 260

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1900 Registrar Frederick William Mansfield

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

30 January 1900

Edmond Edward James Dennehy
Lonie May Swan

Edmond James Dennchy
Louie May Swan
💍 1900/688

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

39
23

Wellington
Wellington

11 years
23 years

St. Mary's Church room, Hill St, Wellington

00/613

30 January 1900

Rev. W. Jos. Lewis

No	58
Date of Notice	30 January 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmond Edward James Dennehy	Lonie May Swan
BDM Match (82%)	Edmond James Dennchy	Louie May Swan
	💍 1900/688
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	39	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	11 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church room, Hill St, Wellington
Folio	00/613
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Jos. Lewis

30 January 1900

Frank Hunt
Helen Sophia Collins

Frank Hunt
Helen Sophia Collins
💍 1900/783

Widower
Spinster

Bricklayer

39
27

Wellington
Wellington

12 years
10 years

Primitive Methodist Chapel, Webb St, Wellington

00/624

30 January 1900

Rev. John Dawson

No	59
Date of Notice	30 January 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Hunt	Helen Sophia Collins
	💍 1900/783
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer
Age	39	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Chapel, Webb St, Wellington
Folio	00/624
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Dawson

30 January 1900

Thomas Baden Bowen
Ada Selina Mouldey

Thomas Baden Bowen
Ada Selina Mouldey
💍 1900/625

Bachelor
Spinster

Financial Agent

28
24

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
2 months

Registrar's Office, Wellington

00/522

30 January 1900

F. W. Mansfield, Registrar

No	60
Date of Notice	30 January 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Baden Bowen	Ada Selina Mouldey
	💍 1900/625
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Financial Agent
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	2 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	00/522
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1900
Officiating Minister	F. W. Mansfield, Registrar

31 January 1900

George Charles Holder
Matilda Ann Read

George Charles Holder
Matilda Ann Read
💍 1900/774

Widower
Spinster

Clerk

29
28

Porirua
Wellington

6 months
28 years

St. Mark's Church, Wellington

00/637

31 January 1900

Rev. R. Coffey

No	61
Date of Notice	31 January 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Charles Holder	Matilda Ann Read
	💍 1900/774
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Porirua	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 months	28 years
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church, Wellington
Folio	00/637
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Coffey

31 January 1900

Walter Gillespie Howdon
Mary Hughes

Walter Gillespie Rowdon
Mary Hughes
💍 1900/530

Bachelor
Spinster

Ward Officer, Mercantile Marine

36
23

Wellington
Palmerston North

6 months
12 months

Registrar's Office, Palmerston North

00/452

31 January 1900

The Registrar, Palmerston North

No	62
Date of Notice	31 January 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Gillespie Howdon	Mary Hughes
BDM Match (98%)	Walter Gillespie Rowdon	Mary Hughes
	💍 1900/530
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ward Officer, Mercantile Marine
Age	36	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	6 months	12 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Palmerston North
Folio	00/452
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1900
Officiating Minister	The Registrar, Palmerston North

31 January 1900

John William Whitworth
Mary Burke

John William Whitworth
Mary Burke
💍 1900/792

Bachelor
Spinster

Master Butcher

27
23

Wellington
Wellington

9 years
23 years

Church of England, Petone

00/632

31 January 1900

Rev. J. D. Russell

No	63
Date of Notice	31 January 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Whitworth	Mary Burke
	💍 1900/792
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Master Butcher
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Petone
Folio	00/632
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. D. Russell

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).