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 886

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 1900 Registrar J. M. Valliason

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
245	30 April 1900	George Reenes Emily Grace Marson	George Reeves Emily Grace Marson 💍 1900/2108	Bachelor Spinster	Salesman	28 22	Christchurch Christchurch	26 years 22 years	House of Mr. Thos. Marson, Spreydon	00/3593	30 April 1900	Rev. D. Elmslie, Presbyterian
246	1 May 1900	Myles Doyle Julia Josephine Kavanagh	Myles Doyle Julia Josephine Kavanagh 💍 1900/5857	Bachelor Spinster	Constable Domestic	25 25	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 25 years	Roman Catholic Church, Hornby	00/3538	1 May 1900	Rev. M. Mannane, Roman Catholic
247	2 May 1900	Michael Cooney Catherine Nolan	Michael Cooney Catherine Nolan 💍 1900/1462	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Pressmaker	30 25	Christchurch Christchurch	9 years 7 years	Roman Catholic Church, Lincoln	00/2307	2 May 1900	Rev. R. Richards, Roman Catholic
248	2 May 1900	Herbert John Savage Margaret Robinson	Habat John Savage Margaret Robinson 💍 1900/1397	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker Domestic	23 24	Christchurch Christchurch	23 years 15 years	St. Saviours Church, Sydenham	00/2189	2 May 1900	Rev. T. A. Scott, Anglican
249	2 May 1900	Edward Izzard Susanna Culverwell Kent	Edward Spear Susanna Culverwell Kent 💍 1900/1460	Widower Spinster	Fitter	67 65	Christchurch Christchurch	16 years 16 years	House of Rev. J. J. Tolle, East Belt, Christchurch	00/2305	2 May 1900	Rev. J. J. Tolle, Baptist
250	4 May 1900	George Bolt Annie Rosa Casson	George Bolt Annie Rosa Cassin 💍 1900/3128	Widower Widow	Farmer	50 37	Christchurch Christchurch	25 years 2 years	House of Mr. T. Casson, Papanui	00/2289	4 May 1900	Rev. W. Lee, Wesleyan
251	4 May 1900	Timothy O'Grady Edith Moore	William Henry Whittaker Edith Moore 💍 1901/862	Bachelor Spinster	Artificer	23 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 months	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	00/2169	4 May 1900	Registrar J. M. Valliason
252	7 May 1900	Michael Drum Annie Gilroy	Michael Drum Annie Gilroy 💍 1900/3316	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Domestic	42 38	Christchurch Christchurch	15 years 15 years	Pro Cathedral, Barbados St., Christchurch	00/2262	7 May 1900	Rev. T. Le Men des Chessay, Roman Catholic

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).