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 345

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 1900 Registrar J. M. Matteson

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
418	19 August 1900	Ernest William Havens Jeannie McGregor Joy	Ernest William Stevens Jeannie McGregor Jory 💍 1900/4879	Bachelor Spinster	Coach Smith Teacher	24 24	Christchurch Christchurch	24 years 6 years	St. John's Church, Christchurch	00/5039		18 August 1900	Rev. H. Watson, Anglican
419	20 August 1900	Charles Trenton Price Margaret Russell	Charles Treaton Price Margaret Russell 💍 1900/5112	Bachelor Spinster	Sawmiller	32 26	Christchurch Colombo Street, Christchurch	8 days 5 months	House of W. Corrigan, Colombo Street, Christchurch	00/5090		20 August 1900	Rev. D. Elmslie, Presbyterian
420	20 August 1900	William George Featonby Lilian Mary Watson	William George Fearonby Lilian Mary Watson 💍 1900/4430	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	24 22	St. Albans St. Albans	1 year 8 years	St. Matthew's Church, St. Albans	00/5097		20 August 1900	Rev. H. Williams, Anglican
421	20 August 1900	David Price Elizabeth Dandes	David John Price Elizabeth Dardis 💍 1900/3825	Bachelor Spinster	Trainer	32 26	Riccarton Christchurch	2 years 26 years	St. Mary's Church, Riccarton	00/3543		20 August 1900	R. J. Marmon, Roman Catholic
422	20 August 1900	Ernest Frank Philpott Katie Florence a'Court	Ernest Frank Philpott Katie Florence A'Court 💍 1900/4431	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 24	Christchurch Christchurch	25 years 20 years	St. Matthew's Church, St. Albans	00/5098		20 August 1900	Rev. H. Williams, Anglican
423	20 August 1900	James Henry Bowell Mary Howell	James Henry Hack Mary Vaile 💍 1900/745	Bachelor Spinster	Fireman	22 19	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 19 years	House of Mr. Lowe, Hillview Road, Linwood	00/3606	John Howell, Father	20 August 1900	Rev. H. Murray, Wesleyan
424	20 August 1900	Samuel Thomas Watkins Catherine Lucy McCausland	Lemuel Thomas Watkins Catherine Lucy McCausland 💍 1900/2062	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	26 24	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 24 years	St. Michael's Church, Christchurch	00/3571		20 August 1900	Rev. A. W. Averill, Anglican
425	21 August 1900	Charles Cairney Lillian Dacre	Charles McQueen Caimey Lillian Dacre 💍 1900/5113	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	21 22	Christchurch Linwood	20 years 18 years	House of Mrs. Dacre, Rochester Street, Linwood	00/5091		20 August 1900	Rev. D. Elmslie, Presbyterian

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).