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 876

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 1900 Registrar J. Ward

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
1166	10 May 1900	Henry Wilson Gladys Margaret Shields	Henry Wilson Gladys Margaret Shields 💍 1900/1387	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 18	Ruapuna Ruapuna	3 years 10 years	Private dwelling of James Shields at Ruapuna	00/2155	James Shields, Father	10 May 1900	Revd. James Skinner
1167	16 May 1900	Charles Dawson Charlotte Maw	Charles Dawson Charlotte Maw 💍 1900/1389	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	33 22	Masterton Flemington	27 years 5 years	Private dwelling of Robert Johnston, Flemington	00/2157		16 May 1900	Revd. James Skinner
1168	19 May 1900	William James Taylor Isabella Anderson	William James Taylor Isabella Anderson 💍 1900/1388	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 28	Ashburton Flemington	23 years 19 years	Presbyterian Church	00/2156		19 May 1900	Revd. James Skinner
1169	26 May 1900	William Paterson Emmaline Williams	William Paterson Emmeline Williams 💍 1900/3215	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	28 22	Lismore Lismore	25 years 7 years	Private dwelling of Thomas Paterson, Lismore	00/2405		26 May 1900	Revd. B. J. Millbrooke
1170	30 May 1900	William Sidney Borman Sarah Chesney Paget	William Sidney Bornan Sarah Chesney Paget 💍 1900/1356	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	25 25	Hinds Hinds	2 years 20 years	Registrar's Office, Ashburton	00/2147		30 May 1900	J. Ward, Registrar
1171	13 June 1900	John Hutton Annie Maggie Brennan		Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 27	Mayfield Mayfield	4 years 12 years	Presbyterian Church, Mayfield	00/2406		13 June 1900	Revd. J. St. Purchas
1172	16 June 1900	Arthur Hunnibell Ida Grace Drummond	Arthur Hunnibell Ida Grace Drummond 💍 1900/1367	Bachelor Spinster	Teacher	30 25	Elgin Ashburton	9 years 4 years	Church of St. Stephen	00/2151		16 June 1900	Revd. R. A. Woodthorpe
1173	18 June 1900	Thomas Walmsley Stone Smith Amy Nicholson	Thomas Walmsley Storey Smith Lucy Nicholson 💍 1900/1359	Bachelor Spinster	Commercial Traveller Professional Nurse	28 27	Ashburton Ashburton	3 days 3 days	Church of St. Stephen	00/2150		18 June 1900	Revd. R. A. Woodthorpe
1174	23 June 1900	Harry Diepenheim Rose Clayton	Harry Diepenhiem Rose Clayton 💍 1900/1978	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	31 21	Fairfield Ashburton	1 year 21 years	Private Dwelling of Fred Simon, Tinwald	00/3508		23 June 1900	Revd. J. Skinner
1175	25 June 1900	Albert Frederick Smith Gertrude Harriet Ann Sparrow	Albert Frederick Smith Gertrude Harriett Ann Sparrow 💍 1900/1368	Bachelor Spinster	Builder	24 23	Ashburton Ashburton	20 years 19 years	Wesleyan Church	00/2160		25 June 1900	Revd. Thos. Gee
1176	30 June 1900	Hugh Alexander Livingstone Florence Hayman	Hugh Alexander Livingstone Florence Hayman 💍 1900/5155	Bachelor Spinster	Schoolmaster	27 23	Wakanui Tinwald	2 years 9 months	Registrar's Office, Ashburton	See Sept Return		30 June 1900	J. Ward, Registrar

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).