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 033

District of Wairau Quarter ending 30 September 1901 Registrar W. J. Hawley

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 July 1901

Albert Robinson
Bridget Nolan

Albert Robinson
Bridget Nolan
💍 1901/3122

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

26
23

Spring Creek
Grovetown

1 week
23 years

House of Mr J. Nolan, Grovetown

01/3628

1 July 1901

Rev. P. Fay

No	35
Date of Notice	1 July 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Robinson	Bridget Nolan
	💍 1901/3122
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Spring Creek	Grovetown
Length of Residence	1 week	23 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr J. Nolan, Grovetown
Folio	01/3628
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Fay

1 July 1901

Alfred James Coward
Beatrix Eleanor Grant

Alfred James Coward
Beatrice Eleanor Grant
💍 1901/3105

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

29
25

Springlands
Spring Creek

29 years
5 years

House of Mr G. Butt, Spring Creek

01/3635

1 July 1901

Rev. E. H. Ensor

No	36
Date of Notice	1 July 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred James Coward	Beatrix Eleanor Grant
BDM Match (95%)	Alfred James Coward	Beatrice Eleanor Grant
	💍 1901/3105
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Springlands	Spring Creek
Length of Residence	29 years	5 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr G. Butt, Spring Creek
Folio	01/3635
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. H. Ensor

8 July 1901

Walter Thomas Penny
Emily Jane Rose

Walter Thomas Penny
Emily Jane Rose
💍 1901/47

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

30
26

Blenheim
Blenheim

5 weeks
26 years

Wesleyan Church, Blenheim

01/3632

8 July 1901

Rev. G. W. J. Spence

No	37
Date of Notice	8 July 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Thomas Penny	Emily Jane Rose
	💍 1901/47
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	5 weeks	26 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Blenheim
Folio	01/3632
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. J. Spence

15 July 1901

William Henry Ford
Kate Bassett

William Henry Ford
Kate Bassett
💍 1901/3106

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

22
27

Spring Creek
Spring Creek

22 years
24 years

Church of England, Spring Creek

01/3636

15 July 1901

Rev. E. H. Ensor

No	38
Date of Notice	15 July 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Ford	Kate Bassett
	💍 1901/3106
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	22	27
Dwelling Place	Spring Creek	Spring Creek
Length of Residence	22 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Spring Creek
Folio	01/3636
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. H. Ensor

18 July 1901

Arthur William Squire
Henrietta Maude Sutton

Arthur William Squire
Henrietta Maude Sutton
💍 1901/3121

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

40
20

Blenheim
Waikakaho

25 years
20 years

Registrar's Office, Blenheim

01/3627

Francis Sutton, father

18 July 1901

W. J. Hawley, Registrar

No	39
Date of Notice	18 July 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur William Squire	Henrietta Maude Sutton
	💍 1901/3121
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	40	20
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Waikakaho
Length of Residence	25 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Blenheim
Folio	01/3627
Consent	Francis Sutton, father
Date of Certificate	18 July 1901
Officiating Minister	W. J. Hawley, Registrar

18 July 1901

Jesse Black
Hannah Wiblin

Jesse Blick
Hannah Wiblin
💍 1901/3103

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
26

Omaka
Omaka

28 years
26 years

House of Mr. Wiblin, Omaka

01/3633

18 July 1901

Rev. G. W. J. Spence

No	40
Date of Notice	18 July 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jesse Black	Hannah Wiblin
BDM Match (95%)	Jesse Blick	Hannah Wiblin
	💍 1901/3103
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Omaka	Omaka
Length of Residence	28 years	26 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Wiblin, Omaka
Folio	01/3633
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 July 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. J. Spence

20 July 1901

Henry William Townsend
Eliza Sheridan

Henry William Townsend
Eliza Sheridan
💍 1901/3107

Bachelor
Widow

Saddler

45
37

Blenheim
Blenheim

25 years
25 years

House of Mrs. E. Sheridan, Blenheim

01/3637

20 July 1901

Rev. T. S. Grace

No	41
Date of Notice	20 July 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry William Townsend	Eliza Sheridan
	💍 1901/3107
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Saddler
Age	45	37
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	25 years	25 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. E. Sheridan, Blenheim
Folio	01/3637
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. S. Grace

23 July 1901

Frederick William Jellyman
Mabel Wells

Frederick William Jellyman
Mabel Wells
💍 1901/3104

Bachelor
Spinster

Surgeon

22
20

Blenheim
Springlands

22 years
1 year

House of Mr. A. Jellyman, Springlands

01/3634

David Wells, father

23 July 1901

Rev. G. W. J. Spence

No	42
Date of Notice	23 July 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Jellyman	Mabel Wells
	💍 1901/3104
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surgeon
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Springlands
Length of Residence	22 years	1 year
Marriage Place	House of Mr. A. Jellyman, Springlands
Folio	01/3634
Consent	David Wells, father
Date of Certificate	23 July 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. J. Spence

30 July 1901

William Dempsey
Bertha Nolan

William Dempsey
Bertha Nolan
💍 1901/3374

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler

27
20

Blenheim
Grovetown

27 years
20 years

Catholic Church, Blenheim

01/3730

Jas. Nolan, father

30 July 1901

Rev. L. C. Servajeau

No	43
Date of Notice	30 July 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Dempsey	Bertha Nolan
	💍 1901/3374
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Grovetown
Length of Residence	27 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church, Blenheim
Folio	01/3730
Consent	Jas. Nolan, father
Date of Certificate	30 July 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. C. Servajeau

1 August 1901

Albert James Armstrong
Ellen Patchett

Albert James Armstrong
Ellen Patchett
💍 1901/3108

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

23
21

Blenheim
Blenheim

16 years
21 years

Church of England, Blenheim

01/3638

1 August 1901

Rev. T. S. Grace

No	44
Date of Notice	1 August 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert James Armstrong	Ellen Patchett
	💍 1901/3108
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	16 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Blenheim
Folio	01/3638
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 August 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. S. Grace

8 August 1901

James Nicholas
Florence Gilbert

James Nicholas
Florence Gilbert
💍 1901/3123

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

21
24

Blenheim
Blenheim

21 years
16 years

House of Mr. G. Tovey, Blenheim

01/3629

8 August 1901

Rev. W. O. Robb

No	45
Date of Notice	8 August 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Nicholas	Florence Gilbert
	💍 1901/3123
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	21	24
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	21 years	16 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. G. Tovey, Blenheim
Folio	01/3629
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 August 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb

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).