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 280

District of Kaikoura Quarter ending 31 March 1900 Registrar Abraham Absolum

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

257

8 January 1900

James Cornelius Mullane
Maria Ann Smith

James Cornelius Mullane
Maria Ann Smith
💍 1900/27

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

26
23

Kaikoura
Kaikoura

2 years
23 years

Roman Catholic Church, Kaikoura

00/677

8 January 1900

Rev. L. F. Walsh

No	257
Date of Notice	8 January 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Cornelius Mullane	Maria Ann Smith
	💍 1900/27
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Kaikoura	Kaikoura
Length of Residence	2 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Kaikoura
Folio	00/677
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. F. Walsh

258

15 January 1900

William Henry Clemeth
Martha Eleanor Parker

William Henry Clemett
Martha Eleanor Parker
💍 1900/652

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

18
21

Kaikoura
Kaikoura

18 years
1 year

Dwelling House of John Clemeth, Kaikoura

00/680

John Clemeth, Father

15 January 1900

Rev. W. Meara

No	258
Date of Notice	15 January 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Clemeth	Martha Eleanor Parker
BDM Match (98%)	William Henry Clemett	Martha Eleanor Parker
	💍 1900/652
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	18	21
Dwelling Place	Kaikoura	Kaikoura
Length of Residence	18 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Dwelling House of John Clemeth, Kaikoura
Folio	00/680
Consent	John Clemeth, Father
Date of Certificate	15 January 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Meara

259

24 January 1900

Francis Phillip James Ward
Kate Warren Hollis

Francis Phillip James Ward
Kate Warren Hollis
💍 1900/644

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer
Teacher

45
37

Awatere
Kaikoura

1 week
5 years

Roman Catholic Church, Kaikoura

00/678

24 January 1900

Rev. John Golden

No	259
Date of Notice	24 January 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Phillip James Ward	Kate Warren Hollis
	💍 1900/644
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer	Teacher
Age	45	37
Dwelling Place	Awatere	Kaikoura
Length of Residence	1 week	5 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Kaikoura
Folio	00/678
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Golden

260

23 February 1900

Hugh O'Donnell
Mary Lucy Garrett

Hugh O'Donnell
Mary Lucy Garrett
💍 1900/651

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

29
26

Kaikoura
Kaikoura

29 years
26 years

Roman Catholic Church, Kaikoura

00/679

23 February 1900

Rev. John Golden

No	260
Date of Notice	23 February 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh O'Donnell	Mary Lucy Garrett
	💍 1900/651
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Kaikoura	Kaikoura
Length of Residence	29 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Kaikoura
Folio	00/679
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Golden

261

20 March 1900

Douglas Haswell
Mary Jane Gerrard

Douglas Haswell
Mary Jane Gerrand
💍 1900/653

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Domestic duties

26
25

Kaikoura
Kaikoura

16 years
20 years

Presbyterian Church, Kaikoura

00/681

20 March 1900

Rev. W. Meara

No	261
Date of Notice	20 March 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Douglas Haswell	Mary Jane Gerrard
BDM Match (97%)	Douglas Haswell	Mary Jane Gerrand
	💍 1900/653
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Domestic duties
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Kaikoura	Kaikoura
Length of Residence	16 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Kaikoura
Folio	00/681
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 March 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Meara

262

22 March 1900

Thomas Smith
Susan Maria Christensen

Thomas Smith
Susan Maria Christenson
💍 1900/3029

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

27
19

Kaikoura
Kaikoura

3 years
19 years

Dwelling House of Mr. Christensen, Kaikoura

00/12031

Eliza Christensen, Mother

22 March 1900

Rev. W. Meara

No	262
Date of Notice	22 March 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Smith	Susan Maria Christensen
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Smith	Susan Maria Christenson
	💍 1900/3029
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Kaikoura	Kaikoura
Length of Residence	3 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling House of Mr. Christensen, Kaikoura
Folio	00/12031
Consent	Eliza Christensen, Mother
Date of Certificate	22 March 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Meara

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).