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 392

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 September 1900 Registrar Alex Montgomery

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
46	2 July 1900	George Wells Ellen Adamson	George Wells Ellen Adamson 💍 1900/5853	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	33 30	Otaio Otaio	3 years 22 years	Presbyterian Church St. Andrews	00/3750		2 July 1900	Rev. Robert Mackie, Presbyterian Minister
47	2 July 1900	William Parr Guns Lucy Malthus	William Parr Lucy Matthus 💍 1900/4962	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer Dressmaker	29 24	Timaru Timaru	28 years 6 years	St. Mary's English Church Timaru	00/5208		2 July 1900	Ven. Archdeacon H.W. Harper, Church of England Clergyman
48	6 July 1900	George Hobbs Matilda Fowler	George Hobbs Matilda Fowler 💍 1900/5715	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 23	Timaru Glen-iti	14 days 16 years	Fowler Glen-iti	00/3741		6 July 1900	Rev. W.C. Woodward, Primitive Methodist Minister
49	13 July 1900	Alexander Donald Elizabeth Newman	Alexander Donald McKenzie Elizabeth Newman 💍 1900/5711	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 20	Timaru Fairview	2 months 20 years	Registrar's Office	00/3739	Edward Newman, father	13 July 1900	Alex. Montgomery, Registrar
50	13 July 1900	William Bastin Ada Horton Martin	William Castle Ada Horton Martin 💍 1900/5702	Bachelor Spinster	Linotype Operator	30 24	Timaru Timaru	2 months 3 days	Dwellinghouse of M. Bizzant, Gray Road, Timaru	00/3751		13 July 1900	Rev. J. Newman Buttle, Wesleyan Minister
51	17 July 1900	Walter Samuel Furby Lily Bradding	Walker Samuel Furby Lily Bradding 💍 1900/5716	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Dressmaker	25 19	Timaru Timaru	1 week 19 years	Dwellinghouse of John Bradding, Timaru	00/3742	John Bradding, father	17 July 1900	Rev. W.C. Woodward, Primitive Methodist Minister
52	23 July 1900	James McBort Harriet Wade	James McCort Harriet Wade 💍 1900/5706	Widower Spinster	Farmer	39 23	Albury Timaru	2 years 11 years	Catholic Church, Timaru, Pleasant Point	00/3755		23 July 1900	Rev. J. Tubman, Roman Catholic Priest
53	25 July 1900	William Joseph Barker Eliza Hammond	William Joseph Barker Eliza Hammond 💍 1900/5703 William Joseph Penney Phoebe Hammond 💍 1900/4893	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 18	Kingsdown Kingsdown	4 years 12 years	Wesleyan Church, Timaru	00/3752	Hammond, father	25 July 1900	Rev. J. Newman Buttle, Wesleyan Minister
54	30 July 1900	Edwin Albert Southon Mary Ann Elizabeth Shear	Edwin Albert Southon Mary Ann Eliza Nears 💍 1900/5717	Bachelor Spinster	Cook	29 19	Timaru Timaru	6 months 9 years	Dwellinghouse of Mr. Burnside, William Street, Timaru	00/3743	M. A. C. Burnside, mother	30 July 1900	Rev. W.C. Woodward, Primitive Methodist Minister
55	2 August 1900	James Waimea Mathieson Victoria Alexandra Potter	James Waimea Mathieson Victoria Alexandra Potter 💍 1900/5718	Bachelor Spinster	Hairdresser	25 22	Timaru Timaru	4 years 5 years	Dwellinghouse of Mr. J. L. Potter, Le Crens St, Timaru	00/3744		2 August 1900	Rev. W.C. Woodward, Primitive Methodist Minister

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).