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 997

District of Gabriels Quarter ending 30 June 1900 Registrar Alexander Millars Eyes

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
52	18 April 1900	James McIntosh Simmers Johanna Kelleher	James MacKintosh Simmers Johanna Kelleher 💍 1900/3384	Bachelor Spinster	Teacher Milliner	33 32	Lawrence Lawrence	3 days 6 days	In the house of Mr. Timothy Kelleher, Tuapeka Flat	00/2551		18 April 1900	Revd. James Delany (Roman Catholic)
53	19 April 1900	James Elvman Rosamond Sherry	James Ellman Rosamond Storry 💍 1900/3366	Bachelor Spinster	Bank Clerk	31 28	Lawrence Lawrence	3 1/2 years 20 years	Wesleyan Church, Lawrence	00/2557		19 April 1900	Revd. John S. W. Ellis (Wesleyan)
54	4 May 1900	William Christie Lawrence Mary Templeton	William Christie Lawrence Mary Templeton 💍 1900/3364	Bachelor Spinster	Dredge Hand Domestic Servant	29 28	Lawrence Lawrence	26 years 1 week	House of Mr. David Lawrence, Whitehaven Street, Lawrence	00/2555		4 May 1900	Revd. C. A. Will (Presbyterian)
55	14 May 1900	David Tucker Edith Kevin	David Tucker Edith Kevin 💍 1900/3368	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	27 30	Blue Spur Waipori	29 years 20 years	In the house of David Tucker, at Blue Spur	00/2559	Henry Eugene Kevin (Father)	14 May 1900	Revd. John S. W. Ellis (Wesleyan)
56	21 May 1900	Sydney James Varcoe Mary Schnia Iren	Sydney James Varcoe Mary Selina Uren 💍 1900/3367	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	29 21	Blue Spur Blue Spur	29 years 21 years	In the house of Mr. John S. Iren, Blue Spur	00/2558		21 May 1900	Revd. John S. W. Ellis (Wesleyan)
57	23 May 1900	George Clarke Margaret Bailey Anderson	George Clarke Margaret Bailley Anderson 💍 1900/3365	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	24 26	Lawrence Lawrence	4 years 20 years	In the house of Mr. Walter Anderson, Lawrence	00/2556		23 May 1900	Revd. C. A. Will (Presbyterian)
58	31 May 1900	Philip Duffy Winifred Roughan	Philip Duffy Winifred Roughan 💍 1900/3385	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	30 29	Tuapeka Flat Lawrence	30 years 29 years	Roman Catholic Church, Lawrence	00/2552		31 May 1900	Revd. P. O'Leary (Roman Catholic)
59	14 June 1900	Jimmy Sook You Jane Donaldson	Jimmy Fook You Jane Donaldson 💍 1900/3386	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	43 32	Tuapeka Flat Tuapeka Flat	25 years 3 weeks	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Lawrence	00/2553		14 June 1900	Registrar of Marriages, Lawrence

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).