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 396

District of Kaiapoi Quarter ending 30 June 1907 Registrar Thomas Stabler

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
99	13 April 1907	John Marshall Mary Down	John Marshall Mary Down 💍 1901/2315	Widower Widow	Farmer	58 44	Woodend Waikuku	25 years 6 years	May Down's house, Waikuku	01/2570		13 April 1907	Chas Porter, Wesleyan
100	16 April 1907	William Aubrey Nicholls Martha Louisa Warrick	William Aubrey Nicholls Martha Louisa Warwick 💍 1901/2309	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic duties	24 21	Belfast Kaiapoi	16 years 6 weeks	Church of England, Kaiapoi	01/2564		16 April 1907	John Holland, Church of England
101	18 April 1907	Frederick Shiner Matilda Antoinette Louise Clout	Frederick Shiner Matilda Antionette Louise Clark 💍 1901/2314	Bachelor Spinster	Baptist Minister	28 23	N.E. Valley, Dunedin Kaiapoi	3 months 2 years	F. Clout's house, Dunedin	01/2569		18 April 1907	J. J. Orle, Baptist
102	27 April 1907	Edward Frederick Alexander Wilson Elsie Louisa White	Edward Frederick Alexander Wilson Elsie Louisa White 💍 1901/2316	Bachelor Spinster	Seaman	32 23	Kaiapoi Kaiapoi	4 years 9 months	Mr. Major's house, Kaiapoi	01/2571		27 April 1907	John Orchard, Wesleyan
103	6 May 1907	Frederick Octavius Manning Lily Balch	Frederick Octavius Manning Lilly Balch 💍 1901/2310	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Weaver	33 33	Methven Kaiapoi	12 years 33 years	Church of England, Kaiapoi	01/2565		6 May 1907	John Holland, Church of England
104	16 May 1907	John Fleming Ada Whitlow	John Fleming Abi Whitlow 💍 1901/2318	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Domestic Servant	27 21	St. Albans Waikuku	25 years 1 month	Mr. Whitlow's house, Waikuku	01/2573		16 May 1907	F. A. Loughnan, Wesleyan
105	16 May 1907	Percy William Lucking Emily Tonkin	Percy William Lucking Emily Tonkin 💍 1901/2317	Bachelor Spinster	Groom	23 19	Christchurch Kaiapoi	1 year 2 years	Mr. Tonkin's house, Kaiapoi	01/2572	Ellen Tonkin, mother	16 May 1907	Chas Porter, Wesleyan
106	20 May 1907	John Henry Burgess Rose Grace Reid	John Henry Burgess Rosa Grace Rich 💍 1901/2311	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	32 23	Clarkville Clarkville	32 years 23 years	Church of England, Clarkville	01/2566		20 May 1907	John Holland, Wesleyan
107	28 May 1907	John Samuel Colman Adeline Isabella Johnston	John Samuel Colman Adeline Isabell Johnston 💍 1901/2332	Bachelor Spinster	Painter Housekeeper	32 33	Kaiapoi Christchurch	25 years 30 years	Registrar's Office, Kaiapoi	01/2563		28 May 1907	Registrar, Kaiapoi
108	10 June 1907	Robert Henry Peleser Catherine Chapman	Robert Henry Belcher Catherine Chapman 💍 1901/2312	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 24	Cowells Island Eyreton	24 years 18 months	Church of England, Clarkville	01/2567		13 June 1907	John Holland, Church of England

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).