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 242

District of Rangitikei Quarter ending 30 September 1890 Registrar W. J. Cheney

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
11	10 July 1890	John Robb Ada Taylor	John Noble Ada Taylor 💍 1900/3704 John Flay Emma Taylor 💍 1900/1781	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 24	Marton Marton	4 days 3 weeks	Presbyterian Church	00/3215		10 July 1890	Rev. D. Gordon
12	11 July 1890	William James Paulin Charlotte Jane Blackler	William James Paulin Charlotte Jane Blockler 💍 1900/3705	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	39 26	Bulls Greatford	30 years 4 days	Residence Mt R	00/3216		11 July 1890	Rev. D. Gordon
13	30 July 1890	William Henry Jenkins Mary Jane Parren	William Henry Jenkins Mary Janet Warren 💍 1900/1846 William Jenkins Mary Anne Macnab 💍 1900/1024	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	32 25	Upper Jutannui Marton	3 months 14 days	Wesleyan Chapel	00/3220		30 July 1890	Rev. G. W. J. Spence
14	8 August 1890	William Berry Annie Walcott	William Berry Annie Walcott 💍 1900/1830	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 22	Marton Marton	5 years 3 months	Residence M. Fred	00/3217		8 August 1890	Rev. D. Gordon
15	11 August 1890	James Henry Signal Amy Mary Amer	James Henry Signal Amy May Amer 💍 1900/1847	Bachelor Spinster	Drover	22 20	Crofton Crofton	1 year 20 years	Residence M.B.	00/3221	Edward Amer, Father	11 August 1890	Rev. G. W. J. Spence
16	20 August 1890	John Craig Edith Drew	John Craig Edith Drew 💍 1900/1841	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Labourer	27 18	Upper Jutannui Fern Flats	9 months 3 weeks	Residence M. Pro	00/3218		3 September 1890	Rev. D. Gordon
17	29 August 1890	John Smith Johanna Mary Ryan	John Smith Johanna Mary Ryan 💍 1900/5381	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Labourer	27 23	Runnymede, Marton Heaton Park	2 years 10 years	Residence M. Patt	00/5613		29 August 1890	Rev. M. J. O'Sullivan
18	30 August 1890	William George Blight Mary Ann Perchey	William George Blight Mary Ann Peachy 💍 1900/3921	Widower Divorcee	Labourer	49 25	Turakina Turakina	3 days 25 years	Residence M. J. S.	00/4651		30 August 1890	Rev. John Ross
19	14 September 1890	Joseph Henry Husband Matilda Cutts	Joseph Henry Husband Matilda Cutts 💍 1900/1845	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	29 20	Marton Marton	2 days 20 years	Residence M. A.	00/3219	Alfred Cutts, Father	18 September 1890	Rev. D. Gordon
20	27 September 1890	Frederick Sisson Catherine Mary Middlemiss	Frederick Sisson Catherine Mary Middlemiss 💍 1900/3920	Bachelor Widow	Farmer	34 39	Turakina Turakina	8 years 18 months	Residence M. Fred	00/4650		27 September 1890	Rev. M. J. O'Sullivan

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).