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 071

District of Buller Quarter ending 31 March 1901 Registrar William George Douglas

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	16 January 1901	Wm Henry Burns Anna Sophia Ward	Thomas Henry Burns Anna Sophia Ward 💍 1901/384	Bachelor Spinster	Horse trainer Domestic	30 21	Westport Westport	4 days 1 month	Registrar's Office, Westport	01/727		10 January 1901	Registrar, Buller
2	11 January 1901	John Bouverie Merrett Margaret Ernest Alexander	John Bouverie Merrett Margaret Forrest Alexander 💍 1901/386	Bachelor Spinster	Clergyman Domestic	26 23	Westport Westport	3 years 1 year	Primitive Methodist Church, Westport	01/729		11 January 1901	Rev. H. Hills
3	26 January 1901	Wm Christian Frank Bridget Cecilia Callinan	Thomas Christian Frank Bridget Cecilia Callinan 💍 1901/389	Bachelor Spinster	Engine driver Domestic	23 20	Westport Westport	3 days 1 year	Roman Catholic Church, Westport	01/733	John Callinan, the Father	26 January 1901	Rev. Wm Walshe
4	21 January 1901	Camille Michel Malfroy Margaret Helena Enright	Camille Michel Malfroy Margaret Helena Enright 💍 1901/369	Bachelor Spinster	Marine Engineer Teacher	28 27	Westport Westport	3 days 4 years	Roman Catholic Church, Westport	01/734		21 January 1901	Rev. Patt C. Costello
5	21 January 1901	Wm Shadbolt Georgina McLean	William Shadbolt Georgina McLean 💍 1901/390	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	24 24	Westport Westport	1 month 1 month	Residence of Frank McLean, Cape Foulwind	01/731		21 January 1901	Rev. J. R. Sart
6	1 February 1901	Wm McLaughlin Mary Cummins	William McLaughlin Mary Cummins 💍 1901/371	Bachelor Spinster	Goldminer Domestic	28 21	Westport Westport	2 years 6 weeks	Roman Catholic Church, Westport	01/736		1 February 1901	Rev. Patt C. Costello
7	1 February 1901	Robt Darby Annie O'Connell	Robert Darby Annie O'Connell 💍 1901/370	Widower Spinster	Sergt. of Police Domestic	51 33	Westport Westport	10 months 18 years	Roman Catholic Church, Westport	01/735		1 February 1901	Rev. Patt C. Costello
8	1 February 1901	Michael Henry Grogan Lucy Catherine Lain	Michael Henry Grogan Lucie Catherine Pain 💍 1901/372	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Domestic	24 23	Westport Westport	4 years 23 years	Roman Catholic Church, Westport	01/737		1 February 1901	Rev. Wm Walshe
9	16 February 1901	Martin Bowe Ellen Shine	Martin Bowe Ellen Shine 💍 1901/373	Bachelor Spinster	Goldminer Domestic	31 23	Charleston Croninville, Charleston	11 years 23 years	Residence of Eugene Shine, Croninville	01/738		16 February 1901	Rev. P. C. Costello
10	18 February 1901	Richard McGrath Mary Agnes O'Brien	Richard McGrath Mary Agnes O'Brien 💍 1901/374	Bachelor Spinster	Bushman Domestic	25 21	Cape Foulwind Cape Foulwind	3 years 3 months	Roman Catholic Church, Westport	01/739		18 February 1901	Rev. Wm Walshe

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).