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 205

District of Kumara Quarter ending 31 March 1901 Registrar Theodore Sanders

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

29 January 1901

Joseph Good Junr
Lucy Cox

Joseph Good
Lucy Cox
💍 1901/576

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Householder

33 years
30 years

Dillmanstown
Greymouth

20 years
20 years

Church of England, Kumara

01/805

29 January 1901

Rev. R. Whitehouse, Minister of Church of England

No	1
Date of Notice	29 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Good Junr	Lucy Cox
BDM Match (84%)	Joseph Good	Lucy Cox
	💍 1901/576
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Householder
Age	33 years	30 years
Dwelling Place	Dillmanstown	Greymouth
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Kumara
Folio	01/805
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Whitehouse, Minister of Church of England

16 February 1901

Samuel Stewart
Mary Gibbons

Samuel Stewart
Mary Gibbons
💍 1901/575

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Householder

37 years
37 years

Kumara
Kumara

2 years
2 years

Presbyterian Church, Kumara

01/804

16 February 1901

Rev. William Borles, Presbyterian Minister

No	2
Date of Notice	16 February 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Stewart	Mary Gibbons
	💍 1901/575
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Householder
Age	37 years	37 years
Dwelling Place	Kumara	Kumara
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Kumara
Folio	01/804
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Borles, Presbyterian Minister

15 February 1901

John William Hibbs
Charlotte Emma Butcher

John William Hibbs
Charlotte Emma Butcher
💍 1901/574

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Householder

33 years
30 years

Kumara Junction
Kumara Junction

20 years
20 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Kumara

1901/803

18 February 1901

Theodore Sanders, Registrar of Marriages, Kumara

No	3
Date of Notice	15 February 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Hibbs	Charlotte Emma Butcher
	💍 1901/574
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Householder
Age	33 years	30 years
Dwelling Place	Kumara Junction	Kumara Junction
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Kumara
Folio	1901/803
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1901
Officiating Minister	Theodore Sanders, Registrar of Marriages, Kumara

15 February 1901

Henry ?? Hope
?? Rose ??

Henry Balshaw Hope
Cecilia Rose Kato
💍 1901/3226

Widower
Widow

Miner
Householder

48 years
39 years

Kumara
Kumara

6 years
6 years

Roman Catholic Church, Kumara

01/3712

18 February 1901

Rev. Daniel J. O'Sullivan, Roman Catholic Clergyman

No	4
Date of Notice	15 February 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry ?? Hope	?? Rose ??
BDM Match (48%)	Henry Balshaw Hope	Cecilia Rose Kato
	💍 1901/3226
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Miner	Householder
Age	48 years	39 years
Dwelling Place	Kumara	Kumara
Length of Residence	6 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Kumara
Folio	01/3712
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. Daniel J. O'Sullivan, Roman Catholic Clergyman

20 March 1901

William George Hutton
Susan Ann Williams

William George Whitton
Laura Ann Williams
💍 1901/577

Widower
Spinster

Storekeeper
Householder

41 years
30 years

Greymouth
Kumara

2 years
14 days

Church of England, Kumara

1901/806

21 March 1901

Rev. R. Whitehouse, Minister of Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	20 March 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Hutton	Susan Ann Williams
BDM Match (82%)	William George Whitton	Laura Ann Williams
	💍 1901/577
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Householder
Age	41 years	30 years
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Kumara
Length of Residence	2 years	14 days
Marriage Place	Church of England, Kumara
Folio	1901/806
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 March 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Whitehouse, Minister of Church of England

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).