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 993

District of East Taieri Quarter ending 30 June 1900 Registrar Alfred Carneross

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	25 April 1900	David Stewart Todd Maggie Robina Henderson	David Stewart Stewart Maggie Robina Henderson Todd 💍 1900/3284	Widower Spinster	Accountant	59 28	Mosgiel Mosgiel	3 days 4 months	House of Mrs. A. Todd, Mosgiel	00/2545		25 April 1900	Rev. J. B. Hall
11	7 May 1900	William Manson Bain Helen Fleming	William Manson Bain Helen Fleming 💍 1900/4234	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinetmaker	28 23	Mosgiel Mosgiel	11 years 23 years	House of James Fleming, Mosgiel	00/3904		7 May 1900	Rev. J. M. McKerrow
12	8 May 1900	Samuel Chesney Isabella Murdoch	Samuel Chesney Isabella Murdoch 💍 1900/3363	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler	23 21	Mosgiel Mosgiel	23 years 21 years	House of Rev. J. B. Hall, East Taieri	00/2546		8 May 1900	Rev. J. B. Hall
13	8 May 1900	John Hogg Miller Jane McAdam Blair	John Hogg Miller Jane Macadam Blair 💍 1900/3381	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 22	Otakia Otakia	12 years 22 years	House of J. Blair, Otakia	00/2548		8 May 1900	Rev. J. B. Hall
14	12 May 1900	Alexander Ferguson Lilias Hamilton	Alexander Ferguson Lillias Hamilton 💍 1900/3374	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	33 31	Mosgiel Mosgiel	3 days 5 months	House of Adam Hamilton, Mosgiel	00/2547		12 May 1900	Rev. J. B. Hall
15	8 June 1900	William Robertson Jessie Macarthur McKillop	William Robertson Jessie Macarthen McKillop 💍 1900/4228	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	28 24	Mosgiel Mosgiel	4 years 20 years	House of Jane McKillop, Mosgiel	00/3899		8 June 1900	Rev. J. M. McKerrow
16	11 June 1900	Thomas Summers Margaret Dewar	Thomas Flannery Margaret Dewar 💍 1900/5830	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	27 21	Mosgiel Mosgiel	3 days 12 years	Office of Registrar, Mosgiel	00/2543		11 June 1900	Alfred Carneross, Deputy Registrar
17	16 June 1900	Philip William Murdoch Margaret Murdoch	Philip William Marchant Margaret Murdoch 💍 1900/3283	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	24 25	Mosgiel Mosgiel	6 days 20 years	House of Rev. H. Boreham, Mosgiel	00/2544		16 June 1900	Rev. H. Boreham
18	26 June 1900	Thomas Robertson Jessie Catherine Dunlop	Thomas Robertson Jessie Catherine Dunlop 💍 1900/4230	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 24	Mosgiel Mosgiel	5 days 20 years	Presbyterian Manse, North Taieri	00/3900		26 June 1900	Rev. Thos. Paulin
19	27 June 1900	James Wilkie Christina Brown	James Wilkie Christina Brown 💍 1900/4232	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 29	Mosgiel Mosgiel	14 years 29 years	House of Janet Brown, East Taieri	00/3902		27 June 1900	Rev. J. B. Hall
20	30 June 1900	Alfred Norton Smith Isabella Brown	Alfred Norton Smith Isabella Brown 💍 1900/4235	Bachelor Spinster	Assistant Ride Maker	21 19	Mosgiel Mosgiel	13 years 8 months	House of Isabella Smith, Saddle Hill	00/3905	Agnes Trainer, Sister, Guardian	30 June 1900	Rev. H. Boreham

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).