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 905

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 1880 Registrar J. J. Patterson

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
614	14 December 1900	John Ambrose White Maria Sophia Goodwin	John Ambrose White Maria Sophia Goodwin 💍 1900/5094	Bachelor Spinster	Shunter	25 32	Christchurch Christchurch	16 years 32 years	House of Mr. J. A. White, Lyttelton	00/5747		14 December 1900	Rev. J. Mackenzie, Presbyterian
615	15 December 1900	William James Biggins Martha Buist	William James Biggins Martha Buist 💍 1900/4481	Bachelor Spinster	Foreman	23 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 4 years	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	00/5007		15 December 1900	Registrar of Marriages, J. J. Patterson
616	15 December 1900	William James McClurg Beatrice Sarah Gee	William James McClurg Beatrice Sarah Gee 💍 1900/4874	Bachelor Spinster	Mechanic	26 23	Christchurch Christchurch	12 years 23 years	Holy Trinity Church, Avonside	00/5034		15 December 1900	Rev. C. R. Pollock, Anglican
617	15 December 1900	Jacob Henry Moar Catherine Hawsley Webster	Jacob Henry Mooar Catherine Ramsay Webster 💍 1900/5095	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Domestic	23 24	Christchurch Christchurch	6 months 18 years	House of Mr. J. Moar, Riccarton	00/5748		15 December 1900	Rev. J. Mackenzie, Presbyterian
618	15 December 1900	George Colville Paul Mary Cence	George Colville Mary Ann Paul 💍 1900/5105	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	29 23	Christchurch Christchurch	8 years 23 years	St. Mary's Church, Addington	00/5083		15 December 1900	Rev. W. J. Bean, Anglican
619	18 December 1900	George Rowley Price Alice Martha Price	George Ronley Strahan Alice Martha Price 💍 1900/5884	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	25 23	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 20 years	House of Mr. H. Z. Price, Opawa	00/5072		18 December 1900	Rev. J. Songer, Congregationalist
620	18 December 1900	Henry Edward Hales Constance Irene Davies	Henry Edward Hales Constance Irene Hinemoa Davies 💍 1901/532	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	22 20	Christchurch Christchurch	22 years 1 year	House of Mr. G. Hales, Spreydon	00/5063	No person having authority to consent	18 December 1900	W. Baumbert

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).