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 242

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 1901 Registrar J. Mard

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
1224	6 April 1901	George Augustus Tilden Lucy Ethel Akerman Hardy	George Augustus Feilden Lucy Ethel Akerman Hardy 💍 1901/2010	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 30	Ashburton Ashburton	6 months 1 year	St. Stephen's Church at Ashburton	01/2364		6 April 1901	Revd. R. A. Northcote
1225	13 April 1901	Charles Albert Papamagian Susan Sarah McHardy	Charles Albert Capamagian Susan Sarah Meharry 💍 1901/2017	Bachelor Spinster	Traveller	25 22	Tinwald Tinwald	3 years 20 years	Presbyterian Church, Tinwald	01/2371		13 April 1901	Revd. James P. Skinner
1226	19 April 1901	Walter Simpson Margaret Ruth McReage	Walter Frampton Margaret Ann McKeage 💍 1901/2018	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 27	Hinds Lowcliffe	2 1/2 years 14 years	Private Dwelling of James McReage at Lowcliffe	01/2372		19 April 1901	Revd. James P. Skinner
1227	22 April 1901	James Puddle Thomas Gee	James Puddle Theodora Gee 💍 1901/2032	Bachelor Spinster	Factory Hand	21 20	Ashburton Ashburton	7 days 3 weeks	Registrar's Office, Ashburton	01/2362	Barbara Elizabeth Gee, mother	22 April 1901	J. Mard, Registrar
1228	6 May 1901	Charles Bennett Sarah Stalker	Charles Bennett Sara Stalker 💍 1901/3803	Bachelor Spinster	Threshing Machine Proprietor	26 22	Tinwald Tinwald	2 years 22 years	St. Andrew's Church, Tinwald	01/4338		6 May 1901	Revd. E. N. Blakiston
1229	16 May 1901	Henry Alexander Frew Florence Amelia James	Henry Alexander Frew Florence Amelia James 💍 1901/2014	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	26 18	Ashburton Hampstead	2 years 18 years	Private Dwelling of Henry James at Hampstead	01/2868	Henry James, father	16 May 1901	Revd. Robert Raine
1230	22 May 1901	Roland Edwin Dintaine Mary Grace	Roland Edwin Fountaine Mary Grace 💍 1901/5467	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	22 21	Winslow Winslow	7 years 21 years	Catholic Presbytery, Ashburton	01/5950		22 May 1901	Revd. J. J. O'Donnell
1231	27 May 1901	William Laffey Maggie Hannigan	William Laffey Margaret Hannigan 💍 1901/5468	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	29 17	Westerfield Westerfield	2 years 5 years	Catholic Church, Ashburton	01/5951	Patrick Hannigan, father	27 May 1901	Revd. J. J. O'Donnell
1232	28 May 1901	Albert Polli Cameron Johan Ada Jamieson	Albert Colin Cameron Joan Ada Jamieson 💍 1901/2016	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 20	Dromore Race Road, Ashburton	2 years 20 years	Presbyterian Church, Ashburton	01/2370	Robert Jamieson, father	3 June 1901	Revd. G. B. Inglis
1233	3 June 1901	William Raymond Willoughby Annie Stewart	William Robert Seymour Willoughby Annie Stewart 💍 1901/2019	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Domestic Servant	24 34	Ashburton Lagmhor	2 years 6 years	Presbyterian Church, Tinwald	01/2373		3 June 1901	Revd. James P. Skinner
1234	3 June 1901	George Frost Sarah Jane Pearce	George Frost Sarah Jane Pearce 💍 1901/2013	Widower Spinster	Carpenter Domestic Duties	42 38	Addington, Christchurch Pherwood	6 years 14 years	Private Dwelling of Mrs. W. R. Pearce at Pherwood	01/2367		3 June 1901	Revd. Thomas Fee

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).