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 286

District of Wairau Quarter ending 31 March 1900 Registrar W. J. Stawley

No	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
1	10 January 1900	Scott Haines Mary Ann Jean Gales	William Scott Haines Mary Ann Jean Giles 💍 1900/634	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 20	Renwicktown Renwicktown	21 years 20 years	House of Mr Haines	00/686	J. H. Gates, father	10 January 1900	Rev. W. O. Robb
2	29 January 1900	Harry James Frazer Mildred Esther Mullen	Harry James Fraser Mildred Esther Mullen 💍 1900/635	Bachelor Spinster	Piano Tuner	22 19	Blenheim Blenheim	3 days 15 years	House of Mr Mullen, Blenheim	00/687	F. Mullen, father	29 January 1900	Rev. W. O. Robb
3	1 February 1900	William John Candy Anna Maybell Cribb	William John Pardy Emma Maxted Cribb 💍 1900/639	Bachelor Spinster	Constable	39 25	England, Blenheim Blenheim	13 months 2 months	Church of [illegible]	00/691		1 February 1900	Rev. J. S. Grace
4	3 February 1900	John Barry Ellen McSweeney	John Barry Ellen McSweeney 💍 1900/1912	Bachelor Spinster	Hotelkeeper	38 28	Blenheim Blenheim	4 months 4 days	Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim	00/341		3 February 1900	Rev. W. D. Soggan
5	12 February 1900	Arthur Fredk Cook Christina Wemyess	Arthur Frederick Cook Christina Demyss 💍 1900/636	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	26 29	Blenheim Wemyess, Blenheim	4 years 29 years	House of Mr Wemyess	00/688		12 February 1900	Rev. W. O. Robb
6	12 February 1900	Henry Boyce Lilian Alice Hammond	Henry Boyce Lilian Alice Hammond 💍 1900/637	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	27 25	Blenheim Hammond, Fairhall	25 years 25 years	House of Mr Hammond	00/689		12 February 1900	Rev. W. O. Robb
7	20 February 1900	Alfred John Gifford Edith Emily Satherley	Alfred John Gifford Edith Emily Satherley 💍 1900/645	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	19 19	Spring Creek Spring Creek	19 years 19 years	House of Mr H. Satherley, Spring Creek	00/696	William Gifford, father; H. Satherley, grandmother	20 February 1900	Rev. W. Keall
8	5 March 1900	George Coleman Robinson Lorna Ada Peake	George Coleman Robinson Louie Ada Peake 💍 1900/640	Bachelor Spinster	Expressman	30 29	Blenheim Spring Creek	30 years 2 years	House of Mr J. Dodds, Spring Creek	00/692		5 March 1900	Rev. J. S. Grace
9	5 March 1900	Richard Matthews Wilhelmina Maria Harford	Richard Matthews Wilhelmina Maria Harford 💍 1900/646	Widower Widow	Farmer	65 49	Spring Creek Ina Marina	40 years 5 days	House of Mr R. Matthews	00/694		5 March 1900	Rev. E. H. Ensor
10	23 March 1900	William Wanden Christina Taylor	William Winn Wanden Christina Taylor 💍 1900/641	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	21 21	Blenheim Taylor, Blenheim	21 years 21 years	House of Mr Taylor, Blenheim	00/693		23 March 1900	Rev. J. S. Grace
11	26 March 1900	John Harris Jellyman Harriett Annie Brydon	John Harris Jellyman Harriett Annie Brydon 💍 1900/638	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	26 23	Renwicktown Renwicktown	26 years 23 years	Presbyterian Church, Renwicktown	00/690		26 March 1900	Rev. W. O. Robb

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 1899. 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).