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 497

District of Timaru Quarter ending 31 March 1901 Registrar Alex. Montgomery

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

4 January 1901

Harry William Depree
Emily Brown

Harry William Deforce
Emily Brown
💍 1901/614

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

25 years
24 years

Timaru
Timaru

20 years
2 years

St Marys English Church Timaru

01/1037

4 January 1901

Rev. J. M. Adcock, Church of England Clergyman

No	1
Date of Notice	4 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry William Depree	Emily Brown
BDM Match (93%)	Harry William Deforce	Emily Brown
	💍 1901/614
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	25 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	20 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St Marys English Church Timaru
Folio	01/1037
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Adcock, Church of England Clergyman

8 January 1901

Alfred Baxter Blackmore
Charlotte Ellen Dale

Alfred Baxter Blackmore
Charlotte Ellen Dale
💍 1901/633

Bachelor
Spinster

Reporter
Milliner

25 years
32 years

Timaru
Timaru

20 years
30 years

Dwellinghouse of Philip Dale, Arthur St. Timaru

01/1042

8 January 1901

Rev. J. Newman Buttle, Wesleyan Minister

No	2
Date of Notice	8 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Baxter Blackmore	Charlotte Ellen Dale
	💍 1901/633
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Reporter	Milliner
Age	25 years	32 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	20 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of Philip Dale, Arthur St. Timaru
Folio	01/1042
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Newman Buttle, Wesleyan Minister

10 January 1901

Charles Tucker Jefferson
Winifred Annie Knight

Charles Archer Jefferson
Winifred Annie Knight
💍 1901/603

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Manager

41 years
25 years

Timaru
Timaru

10 years
25 years

Roman Catholic Presbytery Timaru

01/1033

15 January 1901

Rev. Paul Aubry, Roman Catholic Priest

No	3
Date of Notice	10 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Tucker Jefferson	Winifred Annie Knight
BDM Match (94%)	Charles Archer Jefferson	Winifred Annie Knight
	💍 1901/603
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Manager
Age	41 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	10 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Presbytery Timaru
Folio	01/1033
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. Paul Aubry, Roman Catholic Priest

16 January 1901

Andrew Carroll Watson
Fanny Hope

Andrew Carroll Watson
Fanny Hope
💍 1901/617

Widower
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic Servant

36 years
26 years

Timaru
Timaru

1 month
2 months

Dwellinghouse of Rev. Wm Gillies Timaru

01/1048

16 January 1901

Rev. Wm Gillies, Presbyterian Minister

No	4
Date of Notice	16 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Carroll Watson	Fanny Hope
	💍 1901/617
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic Servant
Age	36 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	1 month	2 months
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of Rev. Wm Gillies Timaru
Folio	01/1048
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Gillies, Presbyterian Minister

18 January 1901

Charles Meyer Hendry
Louisa Wheatley

Charles Meyer Hendry
Louisa Wheatley
💍 1901/595

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd

25 years
26 years

Otaio
Otaio

25 years
8 years

St Marys English Church Otaio

01/1026

18 January 1901

Rev. L. C. Brady, Church of England Clergyman

No	5
Date of Notice	18 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Meyer Hendry	Louisa Wheatley
	💍 1901/595
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd
Age	25 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Otaio	Otaio
Length of Residence	25 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St Marys English Church Otaio
Folio	01/1026
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. C. Brady, Church of England Clergyman

22 January 1901

Waldron Hastings Orbell
Hafa Minnie Ziesler

Waldron Hastings Orbell
Kaja Minnie Ziesler
💍 1901/625

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk in Holy Orders

30 years
22 years

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
4 weeks

St Marys English Church Timaru

01/1038

22 January 1901

Ven. Archdeacon Henry W. Harper, Church of England Clergyman

No	6
Date of Notice	22 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Waldron Hastings Orbell	Hafa Minnie Ziesler
BDM Match (95%)	Waldron Hastings Orbell	Kaja Minnie Ziesler
	💍 1901/625
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk in Holy Orders
Age	30 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	4 weeks
Marriage Place	St Marys English Church Timaru
Folio	01/1038
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1901
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon Henry W. Harper, Church of England Clergyman

22 January 1901

John Patrick Peter
Frances Helen Mary Sealy

John Patrick Peter
Frances Helen Mary Sealy
💍 1901/631

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer

30 years
24 years

Mount Somers
Timaru

30 years
24 years

English Church St. Marys Timaru

01/1040

22 January 1901

Rev. J. M. Adcock, Church of England Clergyman

No	7
Date of Notice	22 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Patrick Peter	Frances Helen Mary Sealy
	💍 1901/631
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer
Age	30 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Mount Somers	Timaru
Length of Residence	30 years	24 years
Marriage Place	English Church St. Marys Timaru
Folio	01/1040
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Adcock, Church of England Clergyman

26 January 1901

Alfred John Cox
Sarah Moses

Alfred John Coe
Sarah Moses
💍 1901/597

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24 years
17 years

St Andrews
St Andrews

24 years
14 years

Registrars office Timaru

01/1028

Thomas Moses Father

26 January 1901

Alex. Montgomery, Registrar Timaru

No	8
Date of Notice	26 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred John Cox	Sarah Moses
BDM Match (97%)	Alfred John Coe	Sarah Moses
	💍 1901/597
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24 years	17 years
Dwelling Place	St Andrews	St Andrews
Length of Residence	24 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Registrars office Timaru
Folio	01/1028
Consent	Thomas Moses Father
Date of Certificate	26 January 1901
Officiating Minister	Alex. Montgomery, Registrar Timaru

28 January 1901

Arthur Albert Gibbs
Everlina Vincent

Arthur Albert Gibbs
Everlina Vincent
💍 1901/635

Bachelor
Spinster

Dredge Hand

22 years
21 years

Timaru
Timaru

13 years
6 years

Dwellinghouse of John H. Buttle, Bank Street Timaru

01/1043

28 January 1901

Rev. J. Newman Buttle, Wesleyan Minister

No	9
Date of Notice	28 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Albert Gibbs	Everlina Vincent
	💍 1901/635
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dredge Hand
Age	22 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	13 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of John H. Buttle, Bank Street Timaru
Folio	01/1043
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Newman Buttle, Wesleyan Minister

31 January 1901

Patrick Pearce
Edith Emma Cullen

Patrick Pearce
Edith Emma Cullen
💍 1901/630

Bachelor
Spinster

Coalman

25 years
23 years

Timaru
Timaru

25 years
3 months

Dwellinghouse of Mr Cullen, Clive Street Timaru

01/1039

31 January 1901

Rev. J. M. Adcock, Church of England Clergyman

No	10
Date of Notice	31 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Pearce	Edith Emma Cullen
	💍 1901/630
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coalman
Age	25 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	25 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of Mr Cullen, Clive Street Timaru
Folio	01/1039
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Adcock, Church of England Clergyman

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).