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 035

District of Wairau Quarter ending 31 December 1901 Registrar Henry Arthur Jackman

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
49	8 October 1901	William Andrew Rutledge Alice Withey	William Andrew Rutledge Alice Witney 💍 1901/4521	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	30 31	Blenheim Blenheim	30 years 31 years	The John Reaves residence Blenheim	01/5065		8 October 1901	Rev. G. W. J. Spence
50	11 October 1901	John Watson Lilian Grace May Treash	John Watson Lilian Grace May Eccelles 💍 1901/4522	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 24	Spring Creek Blenheim	19 years 23 years	Mr Treash's residence Blenheim	01/5066		11 October 1901	Rev. G. W. J. Spence
51	15 October 1901	Arthur Byford Rebecca Rose Wooster	Arthur Byford Rebecca Rose Wooster 💍 1901/4525	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Waitress	23 20	Blenheim Blenheim	7 years 15 years	Church of England Blenheim	01/5069	Joseph Wooster, Father	15 October 1901	Rev. T. S. Grace
52	16 October 1901	John William Patchett Mary Burness Strickland	John William Patchett Mary Burness Strickland 💍 1901/4502	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 23	Blenheim Blenheim	23 years 23 years	Mr Patchetts Residence Blenheim	01/5070		16 October 1901	Rev. T. S. Grace
53	28 October 1901	James Haslam Marion Smale	James Haslam Marion Smale 💍 1901/4523	Bachelor Spinster	Waiter	27 18	Blenheim Blenheim	8 months 18 years	Mr W. Parker's residence Blenheim	01/5067	Thomas Smale, Father	28 October 1901	Rev. G. W. J. Spence
54	6 November 1901	Samuel Adams Emma Booker	Samuel Adams Emma Booker 💍 1901/4503	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 19	Blenheim Blenheim	21 years 19 years	Mr W. O. Robb's residence Blenheim	01/5071	John Booker, Father	6 November 1901	Rev. W. O. Robb
55	15 November 1901	Andrew McDonnell Mary Ann Cameron	Andrew McDonnell Mary Ann Cameron 💍 1901/4504	Bachelor Spinster	Police Constable	33 30	Auckland Grovetown	5 days 30 years	Roman Catholic Church Blenheim	01/5072		15 November 1901	Rev. R. Fay
56	2 December 1901	Earnest Watson Eva Louisa Lankow	Earnest Watson Eva Louisa Lankow 💍 1901/4505	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 21	Stratford Tuamarina	2 months 21 years	Office of the Registrar Marriages Blenheim	01/5073		2 December 1901	H. A. Jackman

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 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).