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 503

District of Port Chalmers Quarter ending 31 March 1900 Registrar Thomas Menicholf

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

4 January 1900

Henry Foy
Margaret Lane

Henry Mann
Margaret Garven
💍 1900/4957

Divorced
Spinster

Quaker
Nil

58
29

N.E. Valley Dunedin
Mihiwaka Port Chalmers

10 years
9 years

House of R. Mc Lachlan Mihiwaka

00/1214

4 January 1900

Rev. C. Taylor, Congregational

No	1
Date of Notice	4 January 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Foy	Margaret Lane
BDM Match (67%)	Henry Mann	Margaret Garven
	💍 1900/4957
Condition	Divorced	Spinster
Profession	Quaker	Nil
Age	58	29
Dwelling Place	N.E. Valley Dunedin	Mihiwaka Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	10 years	9 years
Marriage Place	House of R. Mc Lachlan Mihiwaka
Folio	00/1214
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Taylor, Congregational

5 January 1900

John Douglas
Aggie Sharp

John Douglas Warden
Aggie Sharp
💍 1900/1061

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Nil

32
25

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

3 weeks
10 years

House of Robert Mark Port Chalmers

00/1215

5 January 1900

Rev. C. Taylor, Congregational

No	2
Date of Notice	5 January 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Douglas	Aggie Sharp
BDM Match (82%)	John Douglas Warden	Aggie Sharp
	💍 1900/1061
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Nil
Age	32	25
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	3 weeks	10 years
Marriage Place	House of Robert Mark Port Chalmers
Folio	00/1215
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Taylor, Congregational

16 January 1900

James Smith
Jessie Kelly

James Smith McKenzie
Jessie Kelly
💍 1900/1062

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner
Nil

28
32

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

16 days
12 years

House of M. Kelly Port Chalmers

00/1217

16 January 1900

Rev. C. Tennent, Presbyterian

No	3
Date of Notice	16 January 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Smith	Jessie Kelly
BDM Match (78%)	James Smith McKenzie	Jessie Kelly
	💍 1900/1062
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner	Nil
Age	28	32
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	16 days	12 years
Marriage Place	House of M. Kelly Port Chalmers
Folio	00/1217
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Tennent, Presbyterian

17 January 1900

John Pearson Smith
Charlotte Terry

John Pearson Smith
Charlotte Perry
💍 1900/5798

Bachelor
Spinster

Master Mariner
Nil

29
23

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

3 days
7 days

House of W. Terry Port Chalmers

00/1216

17 January 1900

Rev. C. Tennent, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	17 January 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Pearson Smith	Charlotte Terry
BDM Match (97%)	John Pearson Smith	Charlotte Perry
	💍 1900/5798
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Master Mariner	Nil
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	3 days	7 days
Marriage Place	House of W. Terry Port Chalmers
Folio	00/1216
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Tennent, Presbyterian

5 February 1900

William Jones
Mary McKay

William Jones
Mary McKay
💍 1900/5799

William Mackay
Janet McKay
💍 1900/5731

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Dressmaker

36
35

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

3 years
3 years

House of A. McKay Port Chalmers

00/1218

5 February 1900

Rev. C. Tennent, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	5 February 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Jones	Mary McKay
	💍 1900/5799
BDM Match (60%)	William Mackay	Janet McKay
	💍 1900/5731
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Dressmaker
Age	36	35
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	House of A. McKay Port Chalmers
Folio	00/1218
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Tennent, Presbyterian

7 February 1900

William Sadler
Helen Ramsay

William Sadler
Helen Manning
💍 1900/2498

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Nil

29
25

South Dunedin
Dunedin

15 years
25 years

Church Dunedin

00/1096

7 February 1900

Rev. J. Dunlop, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	7 February 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Sadler	Helen Ramsay
BDM Match (77%)	William Sadler	Helen Manning
	💍 1900/2498
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Nil
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	15 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Church Dunedin
Folio	00/1096
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Dunlop, Presbyterian

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).