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 915

District of Kumara Quarter ending 30 June 1900 Registrar William Trevougham

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
10	16 April 1900	Christopher Moore Louisa May Bishops	Christopher Moore Louisa May Bishop 💍 1900/1456	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Saleswoman	29 23	Kumara but [illegible] Kumara	4 days 13 years	Holy Trinity Church, Kumara	00/2323		16 April 1900	Rev. C. Coate, Anglican Minister
11	21 April 1900	Charles Manihera Mary Ann Palmer	Charles Manihera Mary Ann Palmer 💍 1900/1455	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	29 18	Rapaki Rapaki	6 months 6 months	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Kumara	00/2324	Elias Palmer, father	25 April 1900	William Trevougham, Registrar of Marriages
12	24 April 1900	David Dalton Mary Ann Elizabeth O'Brien	David Dalton Mary Anne Elizabeth O'Brien 💍 1900/5630	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Maori Teacher	32 31	Kumara Kumara	10 years 10 years	House of O'Brien	00/5779		24 April 1900	Rev. R. P. Franklin, Roman Catholic Minister
13	25 April 1900	George Lewis Mary Roach	George Lewis Mary Riach 💍 1900/3959	Bachelor Spinster	Ironmonger Dressmaker	25 25	Kumara Kumara	4 days 25 years	House of Mrs. Roach, Kumara	00/3705		25 April 1900	Rev. A. H. Treadwell, Presbyterian Minister
14	7 May 1900	James Bradley Maggie Ingram	James Bradley Maggie Ingram 💍 1900/3245	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Dressmaker	29 21	Kumara Kumara	29 years 1 year	House of Lewis & Graham, Kumara	00/2327		7 May 1900	Rev. D. McNicol, Wesleyan Minister
15	25 May 1900	Edgar Percival Turner Amy Amalia Skoglund	Edgar Percival Turner Amalia Skoglund 💍 1900/1979	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	24 27	Kumara Greymouth	21 days 20 years	Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth	00/3489		25 May 1900	Rev. - York, Anglican Minister
16	29 May 1900	John Thomas Hay Mary Russell Rankin	Eden Thomas Hay Mary Russell Rankin 💍 1900/3960	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 24	Charleston Charleston	22 years 1 year	House of Rev. G. H. Treadwell, Kumara	00/3706		29 May 1900	Rev. A. H. Treadwell, Presbyterian Minister
17	18 June 1900	Jesse James Austin Frances Emily Styles	Jesse James Austin Frances Emily Styles 💍 1900/1457	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Laundress	32 25	Kumara Kumara	10 months 6 weeks	Holy Trinity Church, Kumara	00/2326		18 June 1900	Rev. C. Coate, Anglican Minister
18	25 June 1900	William Joseph Sullivan Maude Werbidge	William Joseph Sullivan Maude Derbidge 💍 1900/3962	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	19 19	Kumara Kumara	19 years 19 years	House of C. Mazey, Ripon St., Kumara	00/3707	John Sullivan, father; Edwin Werbidge, father	25 June 1900	Rev. A. H. Treadwell, Presbyterian Minister
19	30 June 1900	George Ryan Elizabeth James	George Lyall Elizabeth James 💍 1900/3963	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	31 22	Pigeon Bay but Kumara Kumara	4 days 22 years	House of Arthur James, Break Path, Kumara	00/3708		30 June 1900	Rev. D. McNicol, Wesleyan Minister

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).