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 625

District of Paeroa Quarter ending 31 December 1900 Registrar John Brown

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
19	9 October 1900	William Jas Taylor Elizabeth Ellen Tyson	William James Taylor Elizabeth Helen Tyson 💍 1900/4402	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	27 19	Karangahake Karangahake	18 months 12 months	Residence of 10 Healths Karangahake	00/4303	Wm Elliott, Father	9 October 1900	Wm Greendale, Wesleyan Minister Paeroa
20	15 October 1900	William Henry Gottschalk Sophia Bertha Foley	William Henry Copestake Sophia Bertha Foley 💍 1900/4384	Widower Spinster	Slaughterman	41 29	Karangahake Karangahake	3 days 5 years	Registry Office Paeroa	00/4301		15 October 1900	Registrar Paeroa
21	17 October 1900	Richard George Delves Eliza McKean	Richard George Dilworth Eliza McMeehan 💍 1900/4404	Bachelor Spinster	Ballast Guard	35 22	Paeroa Paeroa	3 years 4 years	Presbyterian Church Paeroa	00/4305		17 October 1900	J J Bates, Presbyterian Minister Paeroa Waihi
22	20 October 1900	William Bradley Kate Meredith	William Bradley Kate Meredith 💍 1900/4395	Bachelor Spinster	Coach driver	27 23	Paeroa Paeroa	2 months 2 months	Registrar's Office Paeroa	00/4302		20 October 1900	Registrar Paeroa
23	27 October 1900	Horatio Philips Maud Elizabeth Fathers	Walter Horatio Phillips Maud Elizabeth Fathers 💍 1900/4400	Bachelor Spinster	Dredgeman Domestic	29 25	Waihi Paeroa	3 years 5 years	Church of England Thames	00/4326		27 October 1900	Dr O'Callaghan Thames
24	27 October 1900	Oliver Averall Mabel Caroline Chamberlain	Oliver Oberall Mabel Caroline Chamberlain 💍 1900/4407	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	32 20	Karangahake Paeroa	3 months 12 months	Mrs Chamberlain's dwelling Paeroa	00/4308	Charles Chamberlain, Father	27 October 1900	Wm Wilson Paeroa
25	1 November 1900	James Alfred McKenna Laura Coombes	James Alfred McKenna Laura Coombes 💍 1900/4405	Bachelor Spinster	Fitter	28 27	Waihi Paeroa	5 years 3 months	Mrs In Gospers dwelling Paeroa	00/4306		1 November 1900	J J Bates Paeroa Waihi
26	15 December 1900	Ernest Stewart Ryburn Mary Reid	Ernest Stuart Ryburn Mary Reid 💍 1900/5331	Bachelor Spinster	Merchant	31 23	Paeroa Owharoa	18 months 20 years	Residence of Rool Reid Owharoa	00/5588		15 December 1900	J F Robertson Paeroa
27	19 December 1900	John Andrew Burney Sarah Louisa Berg	John Andrew McBurney Sarah Louisa Berg 💍 1900/4408	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	28 18	Komata Komata	4 years 4 years	Christian Church Komata	00/4309	John Berg, Father	20 December 1900	W H Wilson Paeroa
28	20 December 1900	Herbert Richard Robinson Elizabeth McNeil	Herbert Richard Robinson Elizabeth McNeil 💍 1900/5338	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	24 19	Karangahake Karangahake	4 years 7 years	Alex McNeil Karangahake	00/5589	Alex McNeil, Father	20 December 1900	J F Robertson Paeroa

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).