Intentions to Marry, 1901 South Island

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840420, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, September 22 2025

1901 is bound in two volumes, North Island districts and South Island districts.

Page 013

District of Pelorus Quarter ending 30 June 1901 Registrar Arthur Thomas Cavell

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

21 April 1901

Hakaraia Hemi
Amelia Picard

Hakaraia Hemi
Amelia Picard
💍 1901/1853

Widower
Spinster

Settler

38
24

Canvastown
Canvastown

38 years
10 years

At the Registrar's Office, Havelock

01/2238

21 April 1901

Arthur Thomas Cavell, Registrar

No	6
Date of Notice	21 April 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hakaraia Hemi	Amelia Picard
	💍 1901/1853
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	38	24
Dwelling Place	Canvastown	Canvastown
Length of Residence	38 years	10 years
Marriage Place	At the Registrar's Office, Havelock
Folio	01/2238
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 April 1901
Officiating Minister	Arthur Thomas Cavell, Registrar

10 May 1901

Samuel Climo
Lillian May Climo

Samuel Climo
Lillian May Climo
💍 1901/1854

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

20
14

Manaroa
Manaroa

5 years
2 years

At the Registrar's Office, Havelock

01/2239

Samson Climo, Father; Richard Climo, Father

10 May 1901

Arthur Thomas Cavell, Registrar

No	7
Date of Notice	10 May 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Climo	Lillian May Climo
	💍 1901/1854
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	20	14
Dwelling Place	Manaroa	Manaroa
Length of Residence	5 years	2 years
Marriage Place	At the Registrar's Office, Havelock
Folio	01/2239
Consent	Samson Climo, Father; Richard Climo, Father
Date of Certificate	10 May 1901
Officiating Minister	Arthur Thomas Cavell, Registrar

3 June 1901

Irvine Howard Wills
Frances Winifred Pullman

Irvine Howard Mills
Frances Winifred Pullman
💍 1901/1851

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
23

Ely Bay
Crail Bay

8 years
20 years

At the residence of Mr A.W. Pullman, Crail Bay

01/2237

3 June 1901

Rev. I, J. Smith, Church of England, Renwicktown

No	8
Date of Notice	3 June 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Irvine Howard Wills	Frances Winifred Pullman
BDM Match (97%)	Irvine Howard Mills	Frances Winifred Pullman
	💍 1901/1851
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Ely Bay	Crail Bay
Length of Residence	8 years	20 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of Mr A.W. Pullman, Crail Bay
Folio	01/2237
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 June 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. I, J. Smith, Church of England, Renwicktown

14 June 1901

Francis Peter Kellor
Ivy Frances Mabel Harvey

Francis Peter Kellor
Ivy Frances Mabel Harvey
💍 1901/1850

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
19

Croiselles
Pig Bay, Pelorus Sound

13 years
11 years

At the residence of Mr J.W. Donald, Havelock Suburban

01/2236

William Harvey, Father

14 June 1901

Rev. K.W. Howell, Church of England, Havelock

No	9
Date of Notice	14 June 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Peter Kellor	Ivy Frances Mabel Harvey
	💍 1901/1850
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Croiselles	Pig Bay, Pelorus Sound
Length of Residence	13 years	11 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of Mr J.W. Donald, Havelock Suburban
Folio	01/2236
Consent	William Harvey, Father
Date of Certificate	14 June 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. K.W. Howell, Church of England, Havelock

21 June 1901

Alfred John Pope
Ada Schenkel

Alfred John Pope
Ada Schenkel
💍 1901/1855

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
25

Nor West Bay, New Zealand
Nor West Bay, New Zealand

3 years
10 years

At the Registrar's Office, Havelock

01/2240

21 June 1901

Arthur Thomas Cavell, Registrar

No	10
Date of Notice	21 June 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred John Pope	Ada Schenkel
	💍 1901/1855
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Nor West Bay, New Zealand	Nor West Bay, New Zealand
Length of Residence	3 years	10 years
Marriage Place	At the Registrar's Office, Havelock
Folio	01/2240
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 June 1901
Officiating Minister	Arthur Thomas Cavell, Registrar

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).