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 239

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 March 1901 Registrar J. Ward

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
1211	5 January 1901	John Patrick Peter Frances Helen Mary Sealy	John Patrick Peter Frances Helen Mary Sealy 💍 1901/631	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer	31 24	Mount Somers Timaru	31 years 24 years	St. Mary's Church, Timaru	01/1040		5 January 1901	Revd. J. M. Acock, B.A.
1212	9 January 1901	William Douglas Williams Annie Helena Murphy	William Douglas Williams Annie Helena Murphy 💍 1901/562	Bachelor Spinster	Dairy Farmer Dressmaker	29 26	Ashburton Elgin	3 days 6 years	Private dwelling of John Murphy at Elgin	01/815		9 January 1901	Revd. J. J. O'Donnell
1213	12 January 1901	James Walker Elizabeth Haigh Earnshaw	James Walker Elizabeth Haig Earnshaw 💍 1901/557	Bachelor Spinster	Salvation Army Officer Salvation Army Officer	32 31	Ashburton Ashburton	3 days 3 days	Salvation Army Barracks at Ashburton	01/810		12 January 1901	Major Nicholas Turner
1214	22 January 1901	Thomas Russell Raymond Mary Caroline Parish	Thomas Russell Raymond Mary Caroline Parish 💍 1901/561	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Labourer	34 23	Tinwald Millwby	21 years 2 years	Presbyterian Church, Millwby	01/814		22 January 1901	Revd. John B. Jory
1215	22 January 1901	William Patrick Daly Bridget Madden	William Patrick Daly Bridget Madden 💍 1901/563	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer Housemaid	25 22	Ashburton Ashburton	15 years 7 years	Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton	01/816		22 January 1901	Revd. J. J. O'Donnell
1216	31 January 1901	James Thompson Martha English	James Thompson Martha English 💍 1901/565	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Domestic Servant	31 23	Ashburton Ashburton	8 months 9 months	Presbyterian Church, Ashburton	01/818		31 January 1901	Revd. Geo. B. Inglis
1217	11 February 1901	John Thomas Kilworth Ellen Breen	John Thomas Kilworth Ellen Breen 💍 1901/558	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	26 22	Allenton Ashburton	18 years 6 years	St. Stephen's Church, Ashburton	01/811		11 February 1901	Revd. R. A. Woodthorpe
1218	2 March 1901	Frederick Burren Annie Jannetta Saleen	Frederick Burren Annie Jannetta Falcon 💍 1901/580	Widower Widow	Labourer	38 40	Ashburton Hampstead	2 months 17 years	Registrar's Office, Ashburton	01/809		2 March 1901	J. Ward, Registrar
1219	11 March 1901	Charles Ligg Emily Sarah Jenkins	Charles Legg Emily Sarah Jenkins 💍 1901/2015	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	34 41	Ashburton Ashburton	12 years 21 years	Private Dwelling of Mr. S. S. Jenkins at Ashburton	01/2369		11 March 1901	Revd. Robert Rayne
1220	16 March 1901	James Henry Good Isabella Reddecliffe	James Henry Good Isabella Reddecliffe 💍 1901/560	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Labourer	24 18	Ealing Ealing	2 years 10 years	Private Dwelling of Mr. Richd. Reddecliffe at Ealing	01/813	Richard Reddecliffe, Father	25 March 1901	Revd. James Skinner
1221	19 March 1901	Andrew Wallace Ellen Ada Good	Andrew Wallace Ellen Ada Good 💍 1901/564	Widower Divorced from former marriage, 15 September 1897	Farmer	41 28	Southbrook Ashburton	15 years 3 years	Private Dwelling of Mrs. Good at Ashburton	01/817		19 March 1901	Revd. Thomas See

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).