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 308

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 1901 Registrar M. Anderson

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
391	19 July 1901	William Henry Chillits Sarah Anna Holliday	William Henry Shillito Sarah Ann Holliday 💍 1901/3272	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Operator	46 43	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 15 years	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	01/3757		19 July 1901	Registrar M. Anderson
392	19 July 1901	James Berry Ethel Piper	James Berry Brinsden Ethel Nina Piper 💍 1901/3303	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	31 22	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 22 years	St. Luke's Church, Christchurch	01/3813		19 July 1901	Rev. Archibald St. Leger, Anglican
393	19 July 1901	Harry Honor Ada Griffin	Harry Honor Ada Griffiths 💍 1901/3848	Bachelor Spinster	Coachman	33 22	Christchurch Christchurch	12 years 22 years	St. Matthew's Church, Christchurch	01/4377		19 July 1901	Rev. H. A. Watson, Anglican
394	19 July 1901	Charles Longden Minchin Ellen Earnshaw	Charles Longden Minchin Ellen Burnip 💍 1901/3301	Bachelor Spinster	Commission Agent	24 18	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 9 years	St. Luke's Church, Christchurch	01/3811	William Burnip, father	19 July 1901	Rev. Archibald St. Leger, Anglican
395	20 July 1901	John James Kiesayowski Annie Rogatski	John James Kiesanawski Annie Rogatski 💍 1901/6321	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 23	Marshland Marshland	14 years 7 years	St. Mary's Church, Marshland	01/4040		20 July 1901	Rev. M. J. Tremane, Romanist
396	20 July 1901	James Wheelley Black Emma Broadley	James Wheatley Slack Emma Broadley 💍 1901/3302	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	21 25	Christchurch Christchurch	11 years 5 years	St. Luke's Church, Christchurch	01/3812		20 July 1901	Rev. Archibald St. Leger, Anglican
397	22 July 1901	James Humble Ellen Head	James Hunter Ellen Head 💍 1901/3879	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 22	Greenpark Greenpark	24 years 22 years	St. Andrew's Church, Greenpark	01/4417		22 July 1901	Rev. J. Mackenzie, Presbyterian
398	23 July 1901	James Ashworth Elizabeth Reeves	James Ashworth Elizabeth Reeves 💍 1901/3343	Widower Widow	Farmer Teacher	56 57	Christchurch St. Albans	3 days 9 months	The German Church, Christchurch	01/3845		23 July 1901	Rev. J. A. Meyer, Anglican

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).