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 1009

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 1900 Registrar John Logan Bush

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
32	2 April 1900	Charles Arthur Chennells Mary Gray	Charles Arthur Chennells Mary Gray 💍 1900/1565 James Gibson Mary Gray 💍 1900/5831	Bachelor Spinster	Assistant Brewer	26 19	Invercargill Invercargill	15 years 19 years	House of Mrs John Gregor, Biggar Street, Invercargill	00/12583	Under seal of The Supreme Court of New Zealand dated 30 March 1900	2 April 1900	Rev J. A. Paybus
33	7 April 1900	Neil Euckelvie Flora Patterson	Neil McKelvie Flora Patterson 💍 1900/1627	Bachelor Spinster	Stockman	38 29	Edendale Forest Hill	16 years 3 months	St Pauls Manse, Kelvin Street, Invercargill	00/2602		7 April 1900	Rev Geo Lindsay
34	9 April 1900	Thomas Abel Attwood Roff Barbara Jane Young	Thomas Abel Attwood Roff Barbara Jane Young 💍 1900/1562	Bachelor Spinster	Sawmiller	27 19	Clifton Invercargill	20 years 19 years	First Church, Tay Street, Invercargill	00/2580	Sinclair Young, father	9 April 1900	Rev J Gibson Smith
35	9 April 1900	Percy Harry Dickery Phyllis Elizabeth Waugh	Percy Henry Vickery Phyllis Elizabeth Waugh 💍 1900/1626	Bachelor Spinster	Cycle Importer	26 25	Invercargill Invercargill	5 years 25 years	House of Mrs Emily Jane Waugh, Bluff Street, Invercargill	00/2601		9 April 1900	Rev Geo Lindsay
36	9 April 1900	Alexander Erisket Martha Dawson	Alexander Nisbet Martha Dawson 💍 1900/1624	Bachelor Spinster	Fireman	29 20	Invercargill Invercargill	12 years 20 years	House of Mrs James Henderson, Elles Road, Invercargill	00/2599	Robert Dawson, father	9 April 1900	Rev Geo Lindsay
37	10 April 1900	Charles Edward Heatley Euphemia Hellows	Charles Edward Heatley Euphemia Fellows 💍 1900/35	Bachelor Spinster	Traveller	24 20	Invercargill Invercargill	10 months 16 years	Church of Christ, Beaumont Street, Invercargill	00/2584	Richard Hellows, father	10 April 1900	Rev Jas Greenhill
38	11 April 1900	William Rigby Wood Dora Septima Galbraith	William Rigby Wood Dora Septima Galbraith 💍 1900/1625	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 27	Invercargill Invercargill	3 days 20 years	House of Mrs Joan Galbraith, Leet Street, Invercargill	00/2600		11 April 1900	Rev Geo Lindsay
39	12 April 1900	Joseph Shaw Emma Jane Field	Joseph Shaw Emma Jane Field 💍 1900/1569	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	28 21	Invercargill Invercargill	3 days 20 years	Primitive Methodist Church, Don Street, Invercargill	00/2587		12 April 1900	Rev J. H. Lysnar

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).