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 1048

District of Riverton Quarter ending 30 June 1900 Registrar Alexander George Ashby

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
578	7 April 1900	Edwin Kitto Mary Lyon	Edwin Kitto Mary Lyon 💍 1900/3303	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Domestic Duties	32 22	Fairfax Orepuki Flat	11 years 22 years	In the House of M. Cara Lyon	00/2673	7 April 1900	Rev. Robert Ewen (Presbyterian)
579	20 April 1900	Robert McRay Daisy Callaghan	Robert McNay Daisy Callaghan 💍 1900/3306	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Laborer Domestic Duties	25 23	Limestone Plains Fairfax	8 years 12 years	In the Presbyterian Manse, Limestone	00/2674	20 April 1900	Rev. Robert Ewen (Presbyterian)
580	2 May 1900	John Murray Wilson Charlotte Muller	John Murray Wilson Charlotte Miller 💍 1900/3402	Widower Widow	Merchant Domestic Duties	60 50	Invercargill Gropers Bush	37 years 25 years	In the House of Charlotte Muller, Invercargill	00/2669	2 May 1900	Rev. Robert McCully (Presbyterian)
581	8 May 1900	William Septimus Seward Cantrell Ethel Florence Sutton	William Septimus Seaward Cantrell Ethel Florence Sutton 💍 1900/5833	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Duties	28 24	Thornbury Thornbury	6 years 10 years	In the Anglican Church, Thornbury	00/2675	8 May 1900	Rev. G. W. Davidson (Church of England)
582	11 May 1900	Clifford William Hobbs Ellen Sullivan	Clifford William Hobbs Ellen Sullivan 💍 1900/3398	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Domestic Duties	34 23	Round Hill Round Hill	2 years 9 years	In the Registrar's Office at Riverton	00/2666	11 May 1900	A. G. Ashby (Registrar)
583	14 May 1900	James Knight Alice Harlock	James Knight Alice Havelock 💍 1900/3404	Divorced Spinster	Labourer Domestic Duties	32 22	Colac Bay Pahi	4 years 3 weeks	In the House of George Harlock, Pahi	00/2671	14 May 1900	Rev. G. J. Roby (Presbyterian)
584	19 May 1900	William Haywood Elizabeth Crawford Stenhouse	William Haywood Elizabeth Crawford Stenhouse 💍 1900/3401	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Duties	39 30	Gropers Bush Gropers Bush	4 years 30 years	In the House of David Younger, Gropers Bush	00/2665	19 May 1900	Rev. G. F. Burrows (Wesleyan)
585	23 May 1900	Henry Roff Alice Julia Nickless	Henry Roff Alice Julia Nickless 💍 1900/3307	Widower Spinster	Sawmiller Domestic Duties	41 34	Orepuki Orepuki	8 months 7 years	In the Church of England, Riverton	00/2676	23 May 1900	Rev. C. W. Rands (Church of England)

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).