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 023

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1900 Registrar E. H. Lyver

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

103

13 February 1900

Thomas Baker
Margaret Gribble

Thomas Baker
Margaret Gribble
💍 1900/98

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

27
24

Auckland
Auckland

10 years
1 week

Registrar Office

00/22

13 February 1900

E. H. Lyver, Registrar

No	103
Date of Notice	13 February 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Baker	Margaret Gribble
	💍 1900/98
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 years	1 week
Marriage Place	Registrar Office
Folio	00/22
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1900
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyver, Registrar

104

14 February 1900

Harry Albert Roberts
Caroline Petrie

Harry Albert Roberts
Caroline Petrie
💍 1900/149

Widower
Spinster

Tailor

39
39

Auckland
Parnell

14 years
10 months

St. Mary's Church

00/91

14 February 1900

Rev. J. H. Chappie

No	104
Date of Notice	14 February 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Albert Roberts	Caroline Petrie
	💍 1900/149
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	39	39
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Parnell
Length of Residence	14 years	10 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church
Folio	00/91
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Chappie

105

14 February 1900

Archibald Higgins
Martha Andrews

Archibald Higgins
Martha Andrews
💍 1900/237

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

32
26

Auckland
Remuera

14 years
20 years

Presbyterian Church

00/108

14 February 1900

Rev. J. B. Munro, Presbyterian

No	105
Date of Notice	14 February 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Higgins	Martha Andrews
	💍 1900/237
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Remuera
Length of Residence	14 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	00/108
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. B. Munro, Presbyterian

106

14 February 1900

Leonard Sanderson
Ethel May Reynolds

Leonard Sanderson
Ethel May Reynolds
💍 1900/185

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

30
24

Auckland
Mount Roskill

30 years
24 years

St. Thomas' Church, Mount Eden

00/142

14 February 1900

Rev. J. Aldridge, Church of Christ

No	106
Date of Notice	14 February 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Sanderson	Ethel May Reynolds
	💍 1900/185
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Mount Roskill
Length of Residence	30 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Thomas' Church, Mount Eden
Folio	00/142
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Aldridge, Church of Christ

107

15 February 1900

Albert Milton Schofield
Mary Eva Costello

Albert Milton Schofield
Mary Eva Costello
💍 1900/1051

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

28
22

Auckland
Auckland

15 years
22 years

St. Benedict's Church

00/1253

15 February 1900

Rev. J. C. Darley, Roman Catholic

No	107
Date of Notice	15 February 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Milton Schofield	Mary Eva Costello
	💍 1900/1051
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	15 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Benedict's Church
Folio	00/1253
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Darley, Roman Catholic

108

16 February 1900

Stewart Stanley McPhail
Ellen Ward

Stewart Stanley McPhail
Ellen Ward
💍 1900/1050

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

22
21

Auckland
Auckland

15 years
13 years

St. Benedict's Church

00/1252

16 February 1900

Rev. J. C. Darley, Roman Catholic

No	108
Date of Notice	16 February 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stewart Stanley McPhail	Ellen Ward
	💍 1900/1050
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	15 years	13 years
Marriage Place	St. Benedict's Church
Folio	00/1252
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Darley, Roman Catholic

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 1903. 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).