Intentions to Marry, 1900 July-December

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840418, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, September 12 2025

1900 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 173

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 September 1900 Registrar Arthur Hector Gore

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

30 July 1900

Robert Black
Athena Mary Seymour

Robert Black
Athena Mary Seymour
💍 1900/3584

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer

30
22

Morene Napier
Morene Napier

10 years
3 days

At the Residence of Mr. J.H. Seymour Napier

00/3071

30 July 1900

Rev. W. G. Parsonson

No	50
Date of Notice	30 July 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Black	Athena Mary Seymour
	💍 1900/3584
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Morene Napier	Morene Napier
Length of Residence	10 years	3 days
Marriage Place	At the Residence of Mr. J.H. Seymour Napier
Folio	00/3071
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 July 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Parsonson

31 July 1900

Charles Edwin Dixon
Barbara Maud Wilton Langlands

Charles Edwin Dixon
Barbara Maud Wilton Langland
💍 1900/1795

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

26
24

Napier
Napier

2 years
4 months

Residence of Rev. J.H. Asher The Manse Napier

00/3092

31 July 1900

Rev. J.H. Asher

No	51
Date of Notice	31 July 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edwin Dixon	Barbara Maud Wilton Langlands
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Edwin Dixon	Barbara Maud Wilton Langland
	💍 1900/1795
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	2 years	4 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. J.H. Asher The Manse Napier
Folio	00/3092
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. J.H. Asher

31 July 1900

William Park Maxwell
Grace Georgina Herbert

William Park Maxwell
Grace Georgina Herbert
💍 1900/3567

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

29
24

Napier
Onehunga Napier

5 years
18 years 4 days

In The Congregational Church at Napier

00/3076

31 July 1900

Rev. W. J. Miller

No	52
Date of Notice	31 July 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Park Maxwell	Grace Georgina Herbert
	💍 1900/3567
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Napier	Onehunga Napier
Length of Residence	5 years	18 years 4 days
Marriage Place	In The Congregational Church at Napier
Folio	00/3076
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Miller

4 August 1900

Robert Hughie Hayden
Ellen Quigley

Robert Hughie Hayden
Ellen Quigley
💍 1900/3569

Bachelor
Widow

Saddler

32
35

Moawhango
Auckland Napier

3 years
3 years 14 days

At the Office of the Registrar of Marriages Napier

00/3078

4 August 1900

A.H. Gore Registrar of Marriages Napier

No	53
Date of Notice	4 August 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Hughie Hayden	Ellen Quigley
	💍 1900/3569
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Saddler
Age	32	35
Dwelling Place	Moawhango	Auckland Napier
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years 14 days
Marriage Place	At the Office of the Registrar of Marriages Napier
Folio	00/3078
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 August 1900
Officiating Minister	A.H. Gore Registrar of Marriages Napier

6 August 1900

William Villers Jeffares
Ellen Higgins

William Villers Jeffares
Ellen Higgins
💍 1900/1790

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

28
18

Taradale
Napier

18 years
18 years

In The Roman Catholic Church Napier

00/3105

Daniel Higgins, Father of Bride

6 August 1900

Dean Macnamara

No	54
Date of Notice	6 August 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Villers Jeffares	Ellen Higgins
	💍 1900/1790
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	28	18
Dwelling Place	Taradale	Napier
Length of Residence	18 years	18 years
Marriage Place	In The Roman Catholic Church Napier
Folio	00/3105
Consent	Daniel Higgins, Father of Bride
Date of Certificate	6 August 1900
Officiating Minister	Dean Macnamara

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 1908. 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).