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

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
1	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
2	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
3	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
4	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
5	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
6	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
7	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
8	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
9	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
10	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

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).