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 029

District of Wairau Quarter ending 31 March 1901 Registrar W. J. Hawley

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
1	2 January 1901	Thomas Wadey Jr. Agnes Goode	Thomas Wady Agnes Goode 💍 1901/314	Bachelor Spinster	Sawmiller	30 22	Blenheim Greytown	2 months 2 months	House of Mrs. Giles, Blenheim	01/700		2 January 1901	Rev. J. J. Smith
2	5 January 1901	Arthur Harris Mabel Annie Bethsheba Harris	Arthur Harris Mabel Annie Bethsheba Harris 💍 1901/297	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	24 21	Westport Ina Marina	5 years 18 years	House of Mr. H. Jenill	01/708		8 January 1901	L. C. Servajean
3	8 January 1901	John Altwood Maggie O'Connor	John Atwood Maggie O'Connor 💍 1901/320	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	30 22	Blenheim Blenheim	25 years 22 years	Catholic Church, Blenheim	01/706		8 January 1901	L. C. Servajean
4	21 January 1901	Lewis Griffiths Eleanor Marion Waddy	Lewis Griffiths Eleanor Marion Waddy 💍 1901/6196	Bachelor Spinster	Auctioneer	27 25	Blenheim Blenheim	27 years 25 years	House of Mr. R. W. Isaac, Renwick	01/704		22 January 1901	W. O. Robb
5	22 January 1901	Arthur Buckman Eliza Ann McIsaac	Arthur Buckman Elizabeth Ann McIsaac 💍 1901/318	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	26 22	Blenheim Blenheim	26 years 22 years	Wesleyan Church, Blenheim	01/709		23 January 1901	W. Keall
6	23 January 1901	Willie Burton Kiell Rose Beatrice Curtis	Willie Brunton Nicoll Rose Beatrice Curtis 💍 1901/298	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 20	Blenheim Blenheim	14 days 10 days	House of Mr. W. O. Robb, Springlands	01/705	Jas. Curtis, Father	5 February 1901	W. O. Robb
7	5 February 1901	Robert Wilson Annie Altwood	Robert Wilson Annie Atwood 💍 1901/319	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 24	Blenheim Blenheim	4 years 20 years	Church of England, Blenheim	01/702		12 February 1901	J. S. Grace
8	12 February 1901	Ernest Alfred John Criddle Ellen Mary Ball	Ernest Alfred John Priddle Ellen Mary Ball 💍 1901/316	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	23 22	Blenheim Blenheim	17 years 12 years	Registrar's Office, Blenheim	01/711		4 March 1901	W. J. Hawley, Registrar
9	4 March 1901	Samuel Newman Selina Emma Jimms	Samuel Newman Selina Emma Timms 💍 1901/300	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 22	Cowslip Valley Wairau Valley	21 years 22 years	House of Mr. J. Batty, Springlands	01/710		5 March 1901	Rev. W. Keall
10	5 March 1901	John Batty Eva Merewether	John Batty Eva Mereweather 💍 1901/299	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 21	Springlands Springlands	27 years 6 weeks	House of Mr. H. Simmons, Blenheim	01/703	H. Simmons, Father	6 March 1901	J. S. Grace
11	6 March 1901	William Miles Gertrude Tasmania Simmons	William Miles Gertrude Tasmania Simmons 💍 1901/317	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 20	Ina Marina Blenheim	7 months 20 years	Registrar's Office, Blenheim	01/712	no one in colony to authorise	11 March 1901	W. J. Hawley, Registrar
12	11 March 1901	Enoch Orchard Alice Dobson	Enoch Orchard Alice Dobson 💍 1901/6197	Bachelor Spinster	Sheepfarmer	31 20	Marlborough Blenheim	2 years 4 days	Church of England, Blenheim			16 March 1901	Rev. J. S. Grace
13	16 March 1901	William Francis Wood Annie Wainui Berry	William Francis Wood Annie Rose Waimate Berry 💍 1901/1900	Bachelor Spinster	Teacher	39 26	Blind River Blenheim	3 years 3 years	Church of England, Blenheim	01/2263			Rev. J. S. Grace

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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 1901. 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).