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 172

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 September 1900 Registrar Arthur Hector Gore

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

16 July 1900

Richard James Stannton
Florence Edith Blackburn

Richard James Staunton
Florence Edith Blackburn
💍 1900/3588

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

32
25

Waipawa, Napier
Waipawa, Napier

10 years 4 days
6 years 8 days

At the Residence of Mr. J. J. Blackburn, Napier

00/3075

16 July 1900

Rev. H. J. Miller

No	45
Date of Notice	16 July 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard James Stannton	Florence Edith Blackburn
BDM Match (98%)	Richard James Staunton	Florence Edith Blackburn
	💍 1900/3588
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	32	25
Dwelling Place	Waipawa, Napier	Waipawa, Napier
Length of Residence	10 years 4 days	6 years 8 days
Marriage Place	At the Residence of Mr. J. J. Blackburn, Napier
Folio	00/3075
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Miller

17 July 1900

Thomas Jessop
Minnie Watson

Thomas Jessop
Minnie Watson
💍 1900/3578

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer

43
30

Norsewood, Napier
Norsewood, Napier

6 years 2 weeks
8 years 3 days

At the Cathedral in Napier

00/3087

17 July 1900

Dean Hovell

No	46
Date of Notice	17 July 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Jessop	Minnie Watson
	💍 1900/3578
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer
Age	43	30
Dwelling Place	Norsewood, Napier	Norsewood, Napier
Length of Residence	6 years 2 weeks	8 years 3 days
Marriage Place	At the Cathedral in Napier
Folio	00/3087
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1900
Officiating Minister	Dean Hovell

23 July 1900

Thomas Henry Gibson
Kate Yorke Hardy

Thomas Henry Gibson
Kate Yorke Hardy
💍 1900/1805

Bachelor
Spinster

Clothier

30
30

Napier
Napier

23 years
8 months

At the Omahu Church

00/3096

23 July 1900

Rev. A. P. Clarke

No	47
Date of Notice	23 July 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Gibson	Kate Yorke Hardy
	💍 1900/1805
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clothier
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	23 years	8 months
Marriage Place	At the Omahu Church
Folio	00/3096
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. P. Clarke

24 July 1900

James Richard Fahey
Isabella Francis Durney

James Richard Fahey
Isabella Francis Durney
💍 1900/1789

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee

28
22

Napier
Napier

6 years
22 years

Roman Catholic Church at Napier

00/3104

24 July 1900

Rev. J. Macnamara

No	48
Date of Notice	24 July 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Richard Fahey	Isabella Francis Durney
	💍 1900/1789
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	6 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church at Napier
Folio	00/3104
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Macnamara

25 July 1900

Bristowe Chaldecott
Margaret Ann Slater

Bristowe Chaldecott
Margaret Ann Slater
💍 1900/3568

Bachelor
Spinster

Stockman

36
27

Tomoana, Napier
Napier

2 years 3 days
7 years

At the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Napier

00/3077

25 July 1900

A. H. Gore, The Registrar of Marriages, Napier

No	49
Date of Notice	25 July 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bristowe Chaldecott	Margaret Ann Slater
	💍 1900/3568
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stockman
Age	36	27
Dwelling Place	Tomoana, Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	2 years 3 days	7 years
Marriage Place	At the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Napier
Folio	00/3077
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1900
Officiating Minister	A. H. Gore, The Registrar of Marriages, Napier

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 1908. 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).