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 195

District of Hokitika Quarter ending 31 December 1901 Registrar [illegible]

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
19	2 October 1901	William Albert Stapleton Maggie King	William Albert Stapleton Maggie Lory 💍 1901/4644	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Domestic	28 26	Hokitika Ross	28 years 11 years	Residence of Maggie King, Ross	01/5749		2 October 1901	P. Bagriel
20	7 October 1901	David Robertson Bruce Mary Jane Marlow	David Robertson Bruce Mary Jane Marlow 💍 1901/4650	Bachelor Spinster	Millwright Domestic	40 39	Hokitika Kumara	3 days 20 years	Public Hall, Hokitika	01/5755		7 October 1901	H. Douglas
21	11 October 1901	Richard Hilson Annie Dawson	Richard Wakelin Annie Anton 💍 1901/2958	Bachelor Spinster	Surveyor Domestic	33 29	Hokitika Hokitika	3 years 20 years	Residence of Annie Dawson, Hokitika	01/5757		11 October 1901	H. Douglas
22	15 October 1901	Louis Strachan Ida Jane Macfarlane	Lewis Strachan Ida Jane MacFarlane 💍 1901/4652	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic	34 32	Rangaroa Hokitika	34 years 32 years	Residence of Ida Jane Macfarlane, Hokitika	01/5756		15 October 1901	H. J. Hawkins
23	16 October 1901	John Sandman Debo Edith Jane Graham	John Sanderson Webster Edith Jane Graham 💍 1901/4646	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Domestic	24 22	Rimu Rimu, Hokitika	10 years 12 years	Residence of Edith Jane Graham, Rimu, Hokitika	01/5751		16 October 1901	H. J. Hawkins
24	28 October 1901	Albert Richard Allen Jane Ellen Hudson	Albert Richard Allen Jane Ellen Hudson 💍 1901/4647	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Domestic	20 18	Ross Hokitika	20 years 18 years	All Saints Church, Hokitika	01/5752	John Robert Hudson, Father	28 October 1901	H. J. Hawkins
25	1 November 1901	George Dawson Eda Therese Marianne ??	George Davidson Eda Theresa Marianne Linnemann 💍 1901/4648	widower Spinster	Engineer Domestic	30 28	Hokitika Hokitika	30 years 28 years	Anglican Church, Hokitika	01/5753		1 November 1901	H. J. Hookins
26	14 November 1901	John Thomas Barff Margaret Carson	John Thomas Baiff Margaret Corsen 💍 1901/4645 John Henry Barkle Margaret Brown 💍 1902/890	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	31 17	Rimu Rimu	2 months 17 years	Residence of Margaret Carson, Rimu	01/5750		14 November 1901	J. K. Sheath
27	13 November 1901	Thomas Coople Lena Gardiner	Thomas Coyle Lena Gardiner 💍 1901/4649	Bachelor Spinster	Carter Domestic	26 24	Hokitika Ross	26 years 24 years	Residence of Lena Gardiner, Ross	01/5754		23 November 1901	D. J. Wallace
28	23 December 1901	William Berry May Hannah ?? ??	William Berry Mary Hanorah May Upjohn 💍 1901/4653	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Domestic	35 21	Rimu Rimu	6 years 20 years	Residence of Mary McDonald, Rimu	01/5758		23 December 1901	H. Douglas

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).