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 503

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 September 1901 Registrar Alexander 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
45	2 July 1901	William Charles Crossley Mary Jane Hodge	William Charles Thomas Gay Mary Jane Hodge 💍 1901/3468	Bachelor Spinster	Optician Dressmaker	24 years 24 years	Christchurch Timaru	4 years 1 week	Wesleyan Church Timaru	01/3963	2 July 1901	Rev. J. Newman Buttle Wesleyan Minister
46	8 July 1901	William Robert Bailey Emma Susannah Batchelor	William Robert Bailey Emma Susannah Batchelor 💍 1901/3471 William Logan Ada Susannah Batchelor 💍 1901/3490	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Cook	22 years 22 years	Timaru St Andrews	3 years 14 days	Dwellinghouse of Mr Henry Batchelor St Andrews	01/3965	8 July 1901	Rev. Robert Mackie Presbyterian Minister
47	9 July 1901	William Hedwick Stevenson Fanny Irvine Bell	William Frederick Stevenson Fanny Irvine Bell 💍 1901/3470	Bachelor Spinster	Station Hand Domestic Servant	26 years 28 years	St Andrews St Andrews	3 days 10 days	Dwellinghouse of Mr W. Bell, Belford St Andrews	01/3964	9 July 1901	Rev. Robert Mackie Presbyterian Minister
48	20 July 1901	James Joseph McKeown May Caird	James Joseph McKeown May Caird 💍 1901/3472	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 years 24 years	Pareora Pareora	6 years 24 years	Dwellinghouse of Mr David Caird Pareora	01/3966	20 July 1901	Rev. Robert Mackie Presbyterian Minister
49	31 July 1901	Tom Wakefield Bertha Hale	Tom Wakefield Bertha Hale 💍 1901/3474	Bachelor Spinster	Fitter Milliner	22 years 29 years	Timaru Timaru	2 years 2 weeks	Dwellinghouse of Mr J Wakefield Turnbull St Timaru	01/3968	31 July 1901	Rev. Robert Mackie Presbyterian Minister
50	31 July 1901	Walter Edwin Beere Rose Ann Wakefield	Walter Edwin Beere Rose Ann Wakefield 💍 1901/3473	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Labourer Domestic Servant	25 years 23 years	Timaru Timaru	4 days 23 years	Dwellinghouse of Mr J Wakefield Turnbull St Timaru	01/3967	31 July 1901	Rev. Robert Mackie Presbyterian Minister
51	3 August 1901	Edwin Mackenzie Ellen Jane Webb	Edwin Mackenzie Ellen Jane Webb 💍 1901/3501	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	28 years 22 years	Timaru Timaru	3 days 3 days	Registrar's Office Timaru	01/3972	3 August 1901	Alexander Montgomery Registrar
52	3 August 1901	John Nichol Mary Hammett	John Nichol Mary Rammett 💍 1901/3504	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Cook	38 years 48 years	Pareora Pareora	2 years 2 years	Presbyterian Church Timaru	01/3975	3 August 1901	Rev. Joseph White Presbyterian Minister
53	7 August 1901	George William Chiles Florence Cockroft	George William Chiles Florance Cockroft 💍 1901/3475	Widower Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	25 years 28 years	Timaru Timaru	10 years 7 months	Dwellinghouse of Mr Ed. Chiles Wainonoitai	01/3969	7 August 1901	Rev. Samuel Buchanan Primitive Methodist Minister
54	8 August 1901	John Martin South Catherine Procter	John Martin South Catherine Proctor 💍 1901/3502	Bachelor Spinster	Clothier Saleswoman	32 years 31 years	Timaru Timaru	20 years 10 years	Roman Catholic Priory Timaru	01/3973	8 August 1901	Rev. John Tubman Roman Catholic Priest

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).