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 279

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 1901 Registrar J. M. Wankessee

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
190	3 April 1901	Herbert Theod. Black Annie Ashton	Herbert Theodore Black Annie Ashton 💍 1901/2158	Bachelor Divorced	Manager	41 31	Riccarton Christchurch	1 year 31 years	St. Albans Congregational Church, Worcester St., Christchurch	01/2519		3 April 1901	Rev. J. Sarginson, Congregational
191	3 April 1901	Duncan James Wright Rosa Rennie	Duncan James Wright Rosa Rennie 💍 1901/2138	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Dressmaker	36 28	Christchurch Woolston	3 months 28 years	St. Johns Church, Christchurch	01/2448		3 April 1901	Rev. H. Gosset, Anglican
192	4 April 1901	Henry Brown Elizabeth Wilson	Henry Brown Elizabeth Wilson 💍 1901/2003 Thomas Henry Rusden Elizabeth Wilson 💍 1901/4298 Robert McLean Elizabeth Wilson 💍 1901/5033	Bachelor Spinster	Furnace Man Domestic	23 19	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 2 months	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	01/2408	M. Wankessee, Registrar, having authority to consent	4 April 1901	M. Wankessee, Registrar
193	4 April 1901	Stephen Menzies Elizabeth Noons	Stephen Menzies Elizabeth Margaret Norris 💍 1901/2147	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic	25 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 18 years	Anglican Church, New Brighton	01/2433		4 April 1901	Rev. R. Inwood, Anglican
194	4 April 1901	Thomas Fullerton Elizabeth Ann Merritt	Thomas Fullarton Murray Elizabeth Ann Merritt 💍 1901/2097	Bachelor Spinster	Insurance Agent	51 38	Christchurch Christchurch	7 years 14 years	House of Mrs. Merritt, Hareldean Rd., Ilam	01/2482		4 April 1901	Rev. W. Simpson, Presbyterian
195	4 April 1901	William Price Janet Gibson	William Whyte Janet Charlotte Gibson 💍 1901/4266	Bachelor Spinster	Ploughman	30 30	Christchurch Christchurch	30 years 17 years	House of Rev. J. Mather, Springston	01/2517		4 April 1901	Rev. J. Mather, Wesleyan
196	4 April 1901	Joseph Fellowes Mary Elizabeth Barker	Joseph Felton Mary Elizabeth Barker 💍 1901/2183	Widower Widow	Laborer Greengrocer	60 54	St. Albans Sydenham	24 years 3 weeks	House of Mrs. Barker, Sydenham	01/2541		4 April 1901	Rev. J. S. Gore, Baptist
197	5 April 1901	Alexander Watson Annie Anderson	Alexander Watson Annie Anderson 💍 1901/2069	Widower Spinster	Plumber Shorthand Writer	43 44	St. Albans Linwood	5 years 6 years	House of J. R. Black, Cambridge St., Linwood	01/2474		5 April 1901	Rev. J. Gore, Presbyterian

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).