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 1008

District of Gore Quarter ending 31 December 1900 Registrar Theodor King

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
29	29 October 1900	George Duncan Cameron Elizabeth Ross	George Duncan Cameron Elizabeth Ross 💍 1900/5205	Bachelor Spinster	Ry Stationmaster	36 28	Riversdale Riversdale	4 days 7 years	Presbyterian Church at Riversdale	00/5424		1 October 1900	Rev A. D. Kirkland, Presbyterian Clergyman, Riversdale
30	30 October 1900	Edward John Kee Nellie Cross	Edward John Kee Nellie Cross 💍 1900/5206	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	29 28	Gore Otama	3 weeks 17 years at Otama	Residence of Wm Cross	00/5425		15 October 1900	Rev Peter Ramsay, Presbyterian Clergyman, Waikaia
31	31 October 1900	Richard Smith Lilly Elizabeth Hagues	Edward Smith Mary Elizabeth Dwyer 💍 1900/1178	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	38 22	Gore Gore	18 years 2 years Riverhead	Residence of Mr Charley Cooper	00/5423		20 October 1900	Rev H. Beggs, Wesleyan Clergyman, Gore
32	32 October 1900	William Dawson Ellen Mary Kelly	William Dawson Ellen Mary Kelly 💍 1900/5677	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	28 33	Riversdale Riversdale	2 years 20 years at Riversdale	Residence of W. Kelly - Hotel	00/5805		26 October 1900	Rev M. Keenan, R.C. Clergyman, Riversdale
33	3 November 1900	Peter Alexander Huntly Margaret Mary Black	Peter Alexander Murtagh Margaret Mary Black 💍 1900/5679	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	22 24	Gore Gore	7 years 20 years	R.C. Church at Gore	00/5807		3 November 1900	Rev P. O'Donnell, R.C. Clergyman, Gore
34	8 November 1900	Charles Sanders Maria Jane Morgan	Charles Saunders Maria Jane Morgan 💍 1900/5372	Bachelor Spinster	Book Keeper	28 28	Martinborough Gore	3 years Wellington 7 years	Wesleyan Church, Taranaki Street, Martinborough	00/5422		8 November 1900	Rev W. C. Oliver, Wesleyan Clergyman, Wellington
35	16 November 1900	Thomas McEnting Agnes Mary Nicholl	Thomas McCartney Agnes Mary Nicholl 💍 1900/5678	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	40 18	Longridge Village Longridge Village	23 years 18 years at Longridge Village	Residence of John Nicholl	00/5806	John Nicholl, father of bride	16 November 1900	Rev M. Keenan, R.C. Clergyman, Riversdale
36	19 November 1900	John Burgoyne Catherine Gregory	John Burgoyne Catherine Gregory 💍 1900/5906	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	34 23	Heriot Gore	3 days 5 months	R.C. Church at Gore	00/5808		19 November 1900	Rev P. O'Donnell, R.C. Clergyman, Gore

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).