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 378

District of Geraldine Quarter ending 31 March 1901 Registrar Agnes Andrews

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

560

5 January 1901

Charles Hammond
Christiana Dawson

Charles Hammond
Christiana Dawson
💍 1901/638

Married, not heard of wife for 30 years
Married, not heard of husband for 4 years

Bushman
Housekeeper

68
56

Peel Forest
Peel Forest

4 years
4 years

Registrar's Office, Geraldine

01/989

5 January 1901

A. Andrews, Registrar

No	560
Date of Notice	5 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Hammond	Christiana Dawson
	💍 1901/638
Condition	Married, not heard of wife for 30 years	Married, not heard of husband for 4 years
Profession	Bushman	Housekeeper
Age	68	56
Dwelling Place	Peel Forest	Peel Forest
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Geraldine
Folio	01/989
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1901
Officiating Minister	A. Andrews, Registrar

561

14 January 1901

Edmund Thomas King
Elizabeth Ann Segar

Edmund Thomas King
Elizabeth Ann Segar
💍 1901/639

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawyer
Cook

21
23

Geraldine
Geraldine

6 months
2 weeks

St. Mary's Church, Geraldine

01/990

14 January 1901

Rev. Staples Hamilton, Church of England

No	561
Date of Notice	14 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmund Thomas King	Elizabeth Ann Segar
	💍 1901/639
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawyer	Cook
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Geraldine	Geraldine
Length of Residence	6 months	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Geraldine
Folio	01/990
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. Staples Hamilton, Church of England

562

18 January 1901

Patrick Lysaght
Elizabeth Earl

Patrick Lysaght
Elizabeth Earl
💍 1901/643

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

33
32

Pleasant Valley
Kakahu

33 years
32 years

Roman Catholic Church, Geraldine

01/994

18 January 1901

Rev. H. G. Bowers, Roman Catholic

No	562
Date of Notice	18 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Lysaght	Elizabeth Earl
	💍 1901/643
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	33	32
Dwelling Place	Pleasant Valley	Kakahu
Length of Residence	33 years	32 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Geraldine
Folio	01/994
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Bowers, Roman Catholic

563

24 January 1901

William Samuel Hood
Annie Emma Shears

William Samuel Wood
Annie Emma Shears
💍 1901/640

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

27
22

Woodbury
Geraldine

27 years
4 years

St. Mary's Church, Geraldine

01/991

24 January 1901

Rev. Staples Hamilton, Church of England

No	563
Date of Notice	24 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Samuel Hood	Annie Emma Shears
BDM Match (97%)	William Samuel Wood	Annie Emma Shears
	💍 1901/640
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Woodbury	Geraldine
Length of Residence	27 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Geraldine
Folio	01/991
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. Staples Hamilton, Church of England

564

23 March 1901

Alfred Borrell
Mary Eliza Crovatt

Alfred Borrell
Mary Edna Sherratt
💍 1901/2329

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic Duties

25
25

Arundel - Rangitata
Geraldine

3 months
25 years

Primitive Methodist Church, Geraldine

01/2559

23 March 1901

Rev. Joseph Sharp, Primitive Methodist

No	564
Date of Notice	23 March 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Borrell	Mary Eliza Crovatt
BDM Match (78%)	Alfred Borrell	Mary Edna Sherratt
	💍 1901/2329
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Arundel - Rangitata	Geraldine
Length of Residence	3 months	25 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Geraldine
Folio	01/2559
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. Joseph Sharp, Primitive Methodist

565

25 March 1901

John Aitken
Elizabeth Harriet Jones

John Aitken
Elizabeth Harriett Jones
💍 1901/2330

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
General Servant

43
25

Opuha - Kakahu
Kakahu Bush

30 years
24 years

The Town of the [illegible] Bush

01/2560

25 March 1901

Rev. Joseph White, Presbyterian

No	565
Date of Notice	25 March 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Aitken	Elizabeth Harriet Jones
BDM Match (98%)	John Aitken	Elizabeth Harriett Jones
	💍 1901/2330
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	General Servant
Age	43	25
Dwelling Place	Opuha - Kakahu	Kakahu Bush
Length of Residence	30 years	24 years
Marriage Place	The Town of the [illegible] Bush
Folio	01/2560
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. Joseph White, 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 1908. 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).