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 948

District of Timaru Quarter ending 31 December 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
67	4 October 1900	Alfred Gollic Jane Wederell	Alfred Collie Jane Wederell 💍 1900/4974	Bachelor Spinster	Customs Officer	24 24	Timaru St Andrews	4 years 12 years	English Church St Andrews	00/5197	4 October 1900	Rev. L. Carday Brady, Church of England Clergyman
68	8 October 1900	Francis John Smith Alice Maude Batchler	Francis John Smith Alice Maud Batchelor 💍 1900/4975	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	25 25	Timaru Timaru	4 days 4 days	The Priory Timaru	00/5198	8 October 1900	Rev. Paul Aubry, Roman Catholic Priest
69	12 October 1900	William Henry Hally Margaret Agnes Walsh	William Henry Kelly Margaret Agnes Walsh 💍 1900/3418 William Henry Kelly Maggie Agnes Walsh 💍 1900/4976	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	24 21	Timaru Timaru	5 months 5 months	Roman Catholic Church Timaru	00/5199	12 October 1900	Rev. J. Lubman, Roman Catholic Priest
70	3 November 1900	Harold Walter Crabb Selina Mary Stevens	Harold Walter Crabb Selina Mary Stevens 💍 1900/4977	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	28 19	Timaru Timaru	2 years 19 years	Dwelling house of William Stevens, South Street Timaru	00/5200	3 November 1900	Rev. George Burgess, Congregational Minister
71	5 November 1900	Joseph Freebody Jennings Alice Maud May Walsh	Joseph Freebody Jennings Alice Maude May Wates 💍 1900/4964	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Cook	26 25	Timaru Timaru	2 years 4 months	English Church Timaru	00/5210	5 November 1900	Rev. J. M. Adcock, Church of England Clergyman
72	26 November 1900	William Runciman McLaube Charlotte Mendelson	William Runcorn McLaren Charlotte Mendelson 💍 1900/5473	Bachelor Spinster	Manager of National Mortgage and Agency Co. of N.Z. Ltd. Nil	45 26	Timaru Timuka	11 years 26 years	St Peters English Church Timuka	00/5678	26 November 1900	Rev. Thomas Farley, Church of England Clergyman
73	27 November 1900	Alfred Charles Barnes Mary Annie Bourne	Alfred Charles Barnes Mary Annie Bourne 💍 1900/4965	Bachelor Spinster	Salesman	34 33	Timaru Timaru	3 days 3 days	St Marys English Church Timaru	00/5211	27 November 1900	Ven. Archdeacon H. W. Harper, Church of England Clergyman
74	4 December 1900	James Hill Katerina McRae	James Hill Hectorina McRae 💍 1900/5617	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Housemaid	41 39	Bradown Bradown	3 days 3 days	Dwelling house of John Hedley, Bradown	00/5582	4 December 1900	Rev. John Dickson, Presbyterian Minister
75	12 December 1900	Henry Mann Margaret Sarven	Henry Mann Margaret Garven 💍 1900/4957	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Duties	30 21	Timaru Timaru	20 years 9 months	Registrars Office Timaru	00/5203	12 December 1900	Alex. Montgomery, Registrar
76	18 December 1900	Joseph Henry Helcher Anne Leslie	Joseph Henry Kelcher Anne Leslie 💍 1900/4958	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer School Teacher	30 24	Timaru Timaru	3 days 3 weeks	Dwelling house of L. Lulic, Avenue Road Timaru	00/5204	18 December 1900	Rev. Wm. Gillies, Presbyterian 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).