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 237

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 30 September 1900 Registrar Robi. R. Keeling

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
39	1 July 1900	Arthur Francis Vowless Susan Annie Sutton	Arthur Francis Vowless Susan Annie Sutton 💍 1900/3699	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	24 22	Palmerston North Palmerston North	3 days 18 months	At the house of Thomas Sutton, Palmerston North	00/3211		1 July 1900	Rev. J. Richards, Baptist Minister, Palmerston North
40	2 July 1900	Robert Newth Kate Jensen	Robert Newth Kate Jenson 💍 1900/3702	Bachelor Spinster	Flax Miller	35 20	Palmerston North Palmerston North	3 days 1 week	At the house of A.R. Newth, Palmerston North	00/3213		2 July 1900	Rev. Jas. Chisholm, Presbyterian Minister, Palmerston North
41	4 July 1900	William Main Smith Alice Maude Revans	William Mein Smith Alice Maude Revans 💍 1900/3703	Widower Spinster	Farmer	29 20	Palmerston North Palmerston North	3 days 7 years	Main Street Presbyterian Church, Palmerston North	00/3214	Claude Revans, father	4 July 1900	Rev. Jas. Chisholm, Presbyterian Minister, Palmerston North
42	4 July 1900	Harry de Berdt Heming Amy Voysey	Harry de Berdt Fleming Amy Voysey 💍 1900/3693	Bachelor Spinster	Railway Clerk Tailoress	23 20	Palmerston North Palmerston North	2 years 2 years	All Saints Church, Palmerston North	00/3205	Bridget Voysey, mother	4 July 1900	Rev. C.C. Harper, Anglican Minister, Palmerston North
43	13 July 1900	Egbert Pratt Rachel Mary Perrin	Egbert Pratt Rachel Mary Perrin 💍 1900/3599	Bachelor Spinster	Hairdresser	21 23	Palmerston North Palmerston North	5 years 23 years	At the house of John E. Perrin, Palmerston North	00/3186		13 July 1900	Rev. S. Lawry, Wesleyan Minister, Palmerston North
44	13 July 1900	Charles Nichols Jessie Mayhew formerly Hallett	Charles Nichols Jessie Mayhew 💍 1900/3692	Bachelor Widow	Farmer	34 31	Palmerston North Palmerston North	3 days 3 days	All Saints Church, Palmerston North	00/3204		13 July 1900	Rev. F.F. Wilson, Anglican Minister, Palmerston North
45	19 July 1900	John Safeyta Alvilda Sophia Henrietta Berg	John Fafeyta Alvilda Sophia Henrietta Berg 💍 1900/3601	Bachelor Spinster	Creamery Manager	31 30	Stoney Creek Stoney Creek	6 weeks 25 years	At the house of C.W. Berg, Stoney Creek, Palmerston North	00/3187		19 July 1900	Rev. S. Lawry, Wesleyan Minister, Palmerston North
46	20 July 1900	William Goodwin Frances Alice Holmes	William Goodwin Francis Alice Holmes 💍 1900/3594	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 22	Palmerston North Palmerston North	3 days 3 days	At the office of the Registrar, Palmerston North	00/3181		20 July 1900	Robi. R. Keeling, Registrar, Palmerston North

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 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).