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 006

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1900

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

9 January 1900

John Harris
Mary Harrison

John Harris
Mary Harrison
💍 1900/165

Bachelor
Spinster

Fruiterer

28
24

Auckland
Epsom

2 years
24 years

House of Father

00/85

9 January 1900

Rev. J. F. S. Bull, Church of Christ

No	19
Date of Notice	9 January 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Harris	Mary Harrison
	💍 1900/165
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fruiterer
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Epsom
Length of Residence	2 years	24 years
Marriage Place	House of Father
Folio	00/85
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. S. Bull, Church of Christ

9 January 1900

William Hope
Harriet Naden

William Hope De Rengy
Harriette Naden
💍 1900/755

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant

38
31

Auckland
Grafton Road

10 years
20 years

House of the Bride

00/759

9 January 1900

Rev. H. R. Bushing, Wesleyan

No	20
Date of Notice	9 January 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hope	Harriet Naden
BDM Match (72%)	William Hope De Rengy	Harriette Naden
	💍 1900/755
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant
Age	38	31
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Grafton Road
Length of Residence	10 years	20 years
Marriage Place	House of the Bride
Folio	00/759
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. R. Bushing, Wesleyan

10 January 1900

Frank Arthur Hedges
Emily Reed

Frank Arthur Hedges
Emily Violet Reed
💍 1900/232

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

25
18

Auckland
Auckland

18 years

St. Paul's Church

00/130

A. W. Reed, Father

10 January 1900

Rev. C. H. Nelson, Church of England

No	21
Date of Notice	10 January 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Arthur Hedges	Emily Reed
BDM Match (79%)	Frank Arthur Hedges	Emily Violet Reed
	💍 1900/232
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence		18 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church
Folio	00/130
Consent	A. W. Reed, Father
Date of Certificate	10 January 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Nelson, Church of England

10 January 1900

Joshua Cotton
Ethel Charity Brannigan

Bachelor
Spinster

Draughtsman

34
20

Auckland
Auckland

26 years
20 years

Registrar's Office

00/10

10 January 1900

E. H. Lyon, Registrar

No	22
Date of Notice	10 January 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joshua Cotton	Ethel Charity Brannigan
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draughtsman
Age	34	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	26 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	00/10
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1900
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyon, Registrar

10 January 1900

Frank Cecil Parish
Bertha Annie Rippin

Frank Cecil Parish
Bertha Annie Kingsford
💍 1900/727

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

47
23

Auckland
Auckland

22 years
24 years

St. Sepulchre's Church

00/65

10 January 1900

Rev. Arch. B. J. Dudley, Church of England

No	23
Date of Notice	10 January 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Cecil Parish	Bertha Annie Rippin
BDM Match (82%)	Frank Cecil Parish	Bertha Annie Kingsford
	💍 1900/727
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	47	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	22 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Sepulchre's Church
Folio	00/65
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. Arch. B. J. Dudley, Church of England

10 January 1900

William Oakley Forshaw
Margaret Grey

William Oakley Forshaw
Margaret Grey
💍 1900/5926

Bachelor
Spinster

Foreman Porter

36
28

32 Victoria Street
Auckland

7 years

House of the Bridegroom

00/157

10 January 1900

Rev. W. J. Potter, Primitive Methodist

No	24
Date of Notice	10 January 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Oakley Forshaw	Margaret Grey
	💍 1900/5926
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Foreman Porter
Age	36	28
Dwelling Place	32 Victoria Street	Auckland
Length of Residence		7 years
Marriage Place	House of the Bridegroom
Folio	00/157
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Potter, Primitive Methodist

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 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).