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 247

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 December 1901 Registrar 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
1253	19 October 1901	George Herbert Bransby Rosina Hayman	George Herbert Bransby Lill Rosena Hayman 💍 1901/4763	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 23	Willowby Willowby	12 years 3 years	Wesleyan Church	01/5766		19 October 1901	Revd. J. D. Jory
1254	22 October 1901	John Johnston Mary Josephine McLauchlan	John Johnston Mary Josephine McLanchlan 💍 1901/5465 John Johnston Mary Jane Graves 💍 1901/5161	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	34 15	Tinwald Tinwald	11 years 15 years	Roman Catholic Presbytery at Ashburton	01/5948	John McLauchlan, Father	22 October 1901	Revd. J. J. O'Donnell
1255	28 October 1901	Robert Clucas Amelia Phillips	Robert Clucas Amelia Phillips 💍 1901/4745	Bachelor Spinster	Dairy Farmer	19 26	Lauriston Lauriston	9 months 9 months	Dwellinghouse of Thomas Dent at Lauriston	01/5172	Robert Clucas, Father	28 October 1901	Revd. R. R. Raine
1256	7 November 1901	Leslie McBride Moore Matilda Hedgman	Leslie McBride Moore Matilda Hedgman 💍 1901/4746	Bachelor Spinster	Coachman Domestic Servant	27 27	Lagmhor Lagmhor	6 years 6 years	Presbyterian Church, Tinwald	01/5173		7 November 1901	Revd. James Skinner
1257	13 November 1901	John Ainsworth Kate Hoare	John Ainsworth Kate Hoare 💍 1901/4766	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	19 21	Ashburton Ashburton	2 years	St. Stephen's Church, Ashburton	01/5169	James Ainsworth, Father	13 November 1901	Revd. R. A. Woodthorpe
1258	2 December 1901	Frank Chapman Margaret Bernay	Frank Chapman Margaret Carney 💍 1901/4762	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	27 22	Ashburton Ashburton	3 days 6 months	Registrar's Office, Ashburton	01/5165		2 December 1901	J. Ward, Registrar
1259	2 December 1901	Leonard Alfred Hisold Bessie Marion Seymour	Leonard Alfred Nicoll Bessie Marion Seymour 💍 1901/4728	Bachelor Spinster	Merchant	26 30	Ashburton Fendalton, Christchurch	5 years 30 years	St. Barnabas Church, Christchurch	01/5325		2 December 1901	Revd. Thos. A. Hamilton
1260	7 December 1901	Frank King Rose Gertrude Melch	Frank King Rose Gertrude Welsh 💍 1901/5464	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Weaver	25 22	Hampstead Allenton	2 years 6 years	Primitive Methodist Church at Ashburton	01/5947		7 December 1901	Revd. Robert Raine
1261	7 December 1901	Robert Stevenson Annie Parish	Robert Stevenson Annie Parish 💍 1901/4764	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Dressmaker	25 21	Waterton Willowby	6 months 6 years	Wesleyan Church at Willowby	01/5167		7 December 1901	Revd. J. D. Jory
1262	17 December 1901	William Alston Gertrude Mary Robinson	William Aston Gertrude Mary Robinson 💍 1901/5243 William Astle Margaret Robinson 💍 1901/1068	Bachelor Spinster	Herbalist	26 21	Ashburton Tinwald	5 days 17 years	St. Andrew's Church, Tinwald	01/5761	Joseph Robinson, Father	17 December 1901	Revd. E. N. Blakiston
1263	19 December 1901	Charles Francis Salmond Blanche Minnie Davies	Charles Francis Salmond Blanche Minnie Davies 💍 1901/4730	Bachelor Spinster	School Teacher	31 27	Ashburton Kinwee	5 years 15 years	Church of England, Kinwee	01/5327		19 December 1901	Revd. J. M. Whitehead

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).