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 835

District of Buller Quarter ending 30 June 1890 Registrar J. S. Hooper

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
824	10 April 1890	Carl Gustav Sommer Jessie Paterson	Carl Guntar Sommer Jessie Peterson 💍 1900/3238	Bachelor Spinster	Sailor Domestic	38 32	Westport Westport	3 Months 10 Months	Registrar's Office	00/2068	10 April 1890	J. S. Hooper, Registrar
825	14 April 1890	John Harris Devis Johanna Callaghan	John Morris Dixon Johanna Theresa O'Callaghan 💍 1900/5736	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Domestic	38 32	Westport Westport	20 years 20 years	Residence of Cornelius Callaghan, Westport	00/2069	14 April 1890	Thomas Halsted
826	14 April 1890	George Lindhead Mary Hopkins	George Muirhead Mary Hopkins 💍 1900/3241	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Domestic	32 23	Millerton Dunedin	4 years 3 years	Registrar's Office, Westport	00/2071	14 April 1890	J. T. Mennett
827	14 April 1890	Edward Bradley Margaret Jane Parkes	Edward Bradley Margaret Jane Wardrope 💍 1900/3244	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Domestic	43 43	Murchison Denniston	5 years 15 years	Residence of Thomas Linton, Westport	00/2074	14 April 1890	John Hall
828	30 April 1890	Arthur Benjamin Paddick Mary Ellen Peterson	Arthur Benjamin Craddock Mary Ellen Peterson 💍 1900/3242	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier Domestic	34 25	Westport Westport	4 years 2 years	Anglican Church, Westport	00/2072	30 April 1890	H. P. Coad
829	7 May 1890	Nicholas Solomon Annie Kearns	Nicholas Solomon Annie Kearns 💍 1900/3239 William Philip Boyd Annie Kearns 💍 1900/1972	Bachelor Spinster	Railway Employee Domestic	21 21	Westport Westport	2 years 2 years	Registrar's Office, Westport	00/2069	7 May 1890	J. S. Hooper, Registrar
830	28 May 1890	Patrick Ahern Sarah Gilles	Patrick Ahern Sarah Tiller 💍 1900/5904	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	24 24	Cape Foulwind Cape Foulwind	12 years 12 years	Roman Catholic Church, Cape Foulwind	00/5672	28 May 1890	Thomas Halsted
831	12 June 1890	William Johns Ellen Coughlan	William John Mawhinney Williams Ellen Conghlan 💍 1900/3232 William Johnson Ellen Hemmings 💍 1900/4383	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Domestic	30 19	Westport Westport	14 Months 6 years	Roman Catholic Church, Westport	00/2067	12 June 1890	Thomas Halsted
832	7 June 1890	William Johnson Jane Agg	William Johnson Jane Ogg 💍 1900/3243 William Johnson Ellen Hemmings 💍 1900/4383	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic	30 21	Karamea Charleston	26 years 21 years	Residence of George Bowden, Westport	00/2073	7 June 1890	J. D. Sells
833	7 June 1890	Robert Gemmill Elizabeth Houston	Robert Gemmill Elizabeth Lausten 💍 1900/3222	Bachelor Spinster	Tinsmith Domestic	30 29	Westport Westport	30 years 7 years	Residence of J. S. Godhurt, Westport	00/2075	7 June 1890	John Hall
834	24 June 1890	Daniel Sullivan Catherine McCarthy	Daniel Sullivan Catherine McCarthy 💍 1900/4152	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Schoolteacher	29 26	Westport Brighton	4 Months 2 years	Roman Catholic Church, Westport	00/4049	24 June 1890	Thomas Halsted

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).