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 139

District of Reefton Quarter ending 31 March 1901 Registrar Henry Lucas

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

4 January 1901

Harry Bray
Louisa Annie Sherlock

Harry Bray
Louisa Annie Sherlock
💍 1901/832

Bachelor
Spinster

Battery hand
Dressmaker

40
29

Reefton
Reefton

13 years
3 years

Wesleyan Methodist Church, Reefton

01/2324

4 January 1901

Rev. Wm. Grigg

No	1
Date of Notice	4 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Bray	Louisa Annie Sherlock
	💍 1901/832
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Battery hand	Dressmaker
Age	40	29
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Reefton
Length of Residence	13 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Methodist Church, Reefton
Folio	01/2324
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Grigg

19 January 1901

Frederick Hawken
Annie Maude Bourke

Frederick Hawken
Annie Maude Bourke
💍 1901/423

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

25
22

Reefton
Reefton

11 months
10 years

at Bourke's Hotel, Reefton

01/766

19 January 1901

Rev. J. B. Rolland

No	2
Date of Notice	19 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Hawken	Annie Maude Bourke
	💍 1901/423
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Reefton
Length of Residence	11 months	10 years
Marriage Place	at Bourke's Hotel, Reefton
Folio	01/766
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. B. Rolland

28 January 1901

John Walsh
Emma Elizabeth Bellamy

John Walsh
Emma Elizabeth Bellamy
💍 1901/424

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

39
31

Reefton
Reefton

26 years
3 days

Roman Catholic Church, Reefton

01/767

28 January 1901

Very Rev. J. B. Rolland

No	3
Date of Notice	28 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Walsh	Emma Elizabeth Bellamy
	💍 1901/424
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	39	31
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Reefton
Length of Residence	26 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Reefton
Folio	01/767
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1901
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. J. B. Rolland

7 February 1901

William Joseph Joyce
Margaret Wallace

William Joseph Joyce
Margaret Wallace
💍 1901/425

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor

30
21

Reefton
Reefton

3 days
3 days

Roman Catholic Church, Reefton

01/768

7 February 1901

Rev. James P. Hickson

No	4
Date of Notice	7 February 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Joseph Joyce	Margaret Wallace
	💍 1901/425
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Reefton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Reefton
Folio	01/768
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. James P. Hickson

15 February 1901

Thomas Richard Rankin
Florence Lawn

Thomas Richard Rankin
Florence Laura Lawn
💍 1901/426

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Dressmaker

29
23

Reefton
Reefton

2 years
23 years

Roman Catholic Church, Reefton

01/769

15 February 1901

Very Rev. J. B. Rolland

No	5
Date of Notice	15 February 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Richard Rankin	Florence Lawn
BDM Match (84%)	Thomas Richard Rankin	Florence Laura Lawn
	💍 1901/426
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Dressmaker
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Reefton
Length of Residence	2 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Reefton
Folio	01/769
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1901
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. J. B. Rolland

26 February 1901

Alexander Glenn
Ann Jane Sutherland

Alexander Glenn
Ann Jane Sutherland
💍 1901/428

Alexander Ferguson
Katherine Sutherland
💍 1902/1008

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver

27
23

Raniif Creek
Reefton

4 years
16 years

Residence Mr Benjamin Sutherland, Coal Street, Reefton

01/770

26 February 1901

Rev. Herbert P. Yorke

No	6
Date of Notice	26 February 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Glenn	Ann Jane Sutherland
	💍 1901/428
BDM Match (63%)	Alexander Ferguson	Katherine Sutherland
	💍 1902/1008
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Raniif Creek	Reefton
Length of Residence	4 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Residence Mr Benjamin Sutherland, Coal Street, Reefton
Folio	01/770
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. Herbert P. Yorke

11 March 1901

Arthur Edward Lawn
Laura Gertrude Sherlock

Arthur Edward Lawn
Laura Gertrude Sherlock
💍 1901/833

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

25
19

Progress Mine
Reefton

2 years
3 years

Wesleyan Methodist Church, Reefton

01/2325

William Sherlock, Father

11 March 1901

Rev. Wm. Grigg

No	7
Date of Notice	11 March 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Edward Lawn	Laura Gertrude Sherlock
	💍 1901/833
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Progress Mine	Reefton
Length of Residence	2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Methodist Church, Reefton
Folio	01/2325
Consent	William Sherlock, Father
Date of Certificate	11 March 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Grigg

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).