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 874

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 1900 Registrar J. Ward

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
1155	4 April 1900	Charles Joseph Ptyche Ethel Mary Davies	Charles Joseph Styche Ethel Mary Davies 💍 1900/3833	Bachelor Spinster	Land Broker	32 28	Ashburton Kirwee, Canterbury, New Zealand	3 years 5 years	Church of England, Kirwee	00/3626		4 April 1900	Revd. J. M. Whitehead
1156	9 April 1900	John Henry Rule Mary Stringfellow	John Henry Rule Mary Stringfellow 💍 1900/3260	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	25 28	Ashburton Chertsey	10 years 5 years	Church of St. James, Chertsey	00/2349		9 April 1900	Revd. John Holland
1157	11 April 1900	Charles William Seymour Beatrice Coleton Dewshire	Charles William Seymour Beatrice Cotton Denshire 💍 1900/1358	Bachelor Spinster	Surgeon Dentist	31 20	Ashburton Ashburton	2 years 20 years	Church of St. Stephen, Ashburton	00/2149	William Banks Dewshire, father	11 April 1900	Revd. R. A. Woodthorpe
1158	12 April 1900	Ernest Jones Lilean Alice Maud Ede	Ernest Jones Lilian Alice Maud Ede 💍 1900/1353	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	23 18	Staveley Ashburton	6 months 3 days	Registrar's Office, Ashburton	00/2145	Edward Ede, father	12 April 1900	J. Ward, Registrar
1159	12 April 1900	Arthur Ebenezer Wright Jane Frampton	Arthur Ebenezer Hight Jane Frampton 💍 1900/1386	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 22	Willowby Willowby	4 years 15 years	Private dwelling of Mr. M. Morday at Willowby	00/2154		16 April 1900	Revd. Joseph J. Mather
1160	12 April 1900	Frederick Powell Elizabeth Frederica Paul nee Cambridge	Frederick Powell Elizabeth Frederica Foul McCambridge 💍 1900/1355	Widower Spinster	Hotel Keeper Barmaid	42 27	Mount Somers Ashburton	15 months 2 months	Registrar's Office, Ashburton	00/2146		12 April 1900	J. Ward, Registrar
1161	14 April 1900	Edward Thomas Bateman Elizabeth Florence Barry Melinda Hansard	Edward Thomas Bateman Melinda Floranso Barry Haasard 💍 1900/1357	Bachelor Spinster	Journalist	24 24	Ashburton Ashburton	4 days 10 days	Church of St. Stephen, Ashburton	00/2148		14 April 1900	Revd. R. A. Woodthorpe
1162	14 April 1900	James Mulford Mary Ann Bossom	James Mulford Mary Ann Turner 💍 1900/1390	Widower Widow	Labourer	66 67	Hampstead Hampstead	23 years 1 year	Private dwelling of James Mulford at Hampstead	00/2158		14 April 1900	Revd. Robert Raine
1163	19 April 1900	Arthur Stewart Mary Martha McConnell	Arthur Stewart Mary Martha McConnell 💍 1900/1378	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 28	Hinds Wheatstone	6 months 4 years	Presbyterian Church, Ashburton	00/2152		19 April 1900	Revd. Geo. B. Inglis
1164	24 April 1900	Lawford Godfrey Reeves Kathleen Mary Orr	Lawford Godfrey Reeves Kathleen Mary Orr 💍 1900/1391	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	30 22	Ashburton Ashburton	8 days 22 years	Wesleyan Church, Ashburton	00/2159		24 April 1900	Revd. Jos. R. Buttle
1165	5 May 1900	Alfred Gregory Margaret Brown	Alfred Gregory Margaret Brown 💍 1900/1385 Charles Henry Waterton Margaret Brown 💍 1901/5590 Jesse Tanner Margaret Brown 💍 1900/538	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 28	Seafield Makanui	12 months Life time	Private residence of James Brown at Makanui	00/2153		5 May 1900	Revd. Geo. B. Inglis

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).