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 292

District of Buller Quarter ending 30 September 1900 Registrar L. H. Shutt

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
836	5 July 1900	David Maclachlan Adam Louisa Jane Huchard	David Melville Adams Louisa Jane Husband 💍 1900/1910	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	24 22	Westport Westport	9 Months 5 Years		00/3435		5 July 1900	H. York
837	9 July 1900	David Blair Matilda Godley	David Moir Matilda Godbaz 💍 1900/1907	Bachelor Widow	Engine Cleaner Domestic Duties	63 65	Westport Westport	35 Years 12 Years		00/3431		9 July 1900	Registrar
838	10 July 1900	John Hopkins Zelia Mary Ann Kyle	John Hopkins Zeelia Marjory Kent 💍 1900/1929	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Domestic	25 21	Millerton Dunedin	9 Months 19 Years		00/3437		10 July 1900	H. B. Plunkett
839	23 July 1900	Joseph Gray Annie May Ellen Burke	Joseph Levy Annie Mary Ellen Moore 💍 1900/1908	Bachelor Spinster	Painter Domestic	23 19	Westport Westport	9 Months 19 Years		00/3432	Robert Burke, father of bride	23 July 1900	Registrar
840	28 July 1900	Silas Papps Emily Cameron	Silas Papprill Emily Cameron 💍 1900/5849	Married Married	Carpenter Domestic Duties	55 36	Westport Westport	5 Years 5 Years		00/3433		28 July 1900	Registrar
841	4 August 1900	Charles Henry Smith Ada Marion Smith	Charles Henry Woodward Ada Marion Smith 💍 1900/1909	Bachelor Spinster	Bushman Domestic	24 22	Westport Westport	24 Years 30 Years	Anglican Church	00/3434		4 August 1900	H. P. Coard
842	24 August 1900	Joseph John Hogan Ethel Brown	Joseph John Hogan Healy Ethel Brown 💍 1900/4153	Bachelor Spinster	Engine Driver Domestic	29 21	Westport Westport	3 Years 14 Years	Residence of Thomas Walshe	00/4050		24 August 1900	Thomas Walshe
843	7 September 1900	William Robert Jones Edith Lena Killon	William Robert Jones Edith Lena Skilton 💍 1900/1918	Bachelor Spinster	Carter Domestic	33 24	Westport Westport	12 Years 10 Years	Residence of Robert Killon	00/3436		7 September 1900	John Hall

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).