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 505

District of Timaru Quarter ending 31 December 1901 Registrar Alexander 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

1 October 1901

William Burgess
Mary St. Heilers Maggie

William Burgess
Mary St Heilers Haggie
💍 1901/4973

Bachelor
Spinster

Slaughterman

26 years
29 years

Timaru
Timaru

26 years
7 years

Roman Catholic Priory, Timaru

01/5391

1 October 1901

Rev. John Tubman, Roman Catholic Priest

No	65
Date of Notice	1 October 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Burgess	Mary St. Heilers Maggie
BDM Match (96%)	William Burgess	Mary St Heilers Haggie
	💍 1901/4973
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman
Age	26 years	29 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	26 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Priory, Timaru
Folio	01/5391
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Tubman, Roman Catholic Priest

1 October 1901

Andrew Rodgers
Caroline Rebecca Ingram

Andrew Rodgers
Caroline Rebecca Ingram
💍 1901/4987

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25 years
14 years

Timaru
Timaru

8 months
14 years

Dwellinghouse of Mr Ingram, Brown St, Timaru

01/5381

Rebecca Ingram, Mother

1 October 1901

Rev. George Burgess, Congregational Minister

No	66
Date of Notice	1 October 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Rodgers	Caroline Rebecca Ingram
	💍 1901/4987
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25 years	14 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	8 months	14 years
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of Mr Ingram, Brown St, Timaru
Folio	01/5381
Consent	Rebecca Ingram, Mother
Date of Certificate	1 October 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Burgess, Congregational Minister

12 October 1901

Thomas Scott
Elizabeth McK Brown

Thomas Scott
Elizabeth McLean
💍 1901/4977

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26 years
28 years

Pareora
Timaru

12 years
28 years

Presbyterian Church, Timaru

01/5394

12 October 1901

Rev. George Barclay, Presbyterian Minister

No	67
Date of Notice	12 October 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Scott	Elizabeth McK Brown
BDM Match (84%)	Thomas Scott	Elizabeth McLean
	💍 1901/4977
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	Pareora	Timaru
Length of Residence	12 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	01/5394
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 October 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Barclay, Presbyterian Minister

14 October 1901

Henry Bolden
Edith Williams

Henry Bolden
Edith Williams
💍 1901/4969

Bachelor
Spinster

Fellmonger

26 years
23 years

Waimataitai
Waimataitai

3 years
15 months

Dwellinghouse of Rev. J. N. Buttle, Timaru

01/5387

14 October 1901

Rev. J. Newman Buttle, Wesleyan Minister

No	68
Date of Notice	14 October 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Bolden	Edith Williams
	💍 1901/4969
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fellmonger
Age	26 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Waimataitai	Waimataitai
Length of Residence	3 years	15 months
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of Rev. J. N. Buttle, Timaru
Folio	01/5387
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Newman Buttle, Wesleyan Minister

17 October 1901

Arthur Henry Chiles
Mary Gardner

Arthur Henry Chiles
Mary Gardner
💍 1901/5382

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic Servant

24 years
20 years

Timaru
Timaru

10 years
6 years

Dwellinghouse of W. Wood, Wre St, Timaru

01/5989

Thomas Gardner, Father

17 October 1901

Rev. Samuel Buchanan, Primitive Methodist Minister

No	69
Date of Notice	17 October 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Henry Chiles	Mary Gardner
	💍 1901/5382
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic Servant
Age	24 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	10 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of W. Wood, Wre St, Timaru
Folio	01/5989
Consent	Thomas Gardner, Father
Date of Certificate	17 October 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. Samuel Buchanan, Primitive Methodist Minister

19 October 1901

Robert Peebles
Ellen Curry

Robert Peebles
Ellen Curry
💍 1901/4964

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25 years
21 years

Timaru
Timaru

6 years
21 years

Dwellinghouse Rev. Geo. Burgess, Timaru

01/5382

19 October 1901

Rev. George Burgess, Congregational Minister

No	70
Date of Notice	19 October 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Peebles	Ellen Curry
	💍 1901/4964
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	6 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse Rev. Geo. Burgess, Timaru
Folio	01/5382
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 October 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Burgess, Congregational Minister

1 November 1901

Robert Carr
Bessie Rice

Robert Parr
Bessie Rice
💍 1901/4986

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

23 years
25 years

Timaru
Timaru

23 years
7 years

English Church (St. Marys), Timaru

01/5379

1 November 1901

Rev. Henry Williams, Church of England Clergyman

No	71
Date of Notice	1 November 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Carr	Bessie Rice
BDM Match (95%)	Robert Parr	Bessie Rice
	💍 1901/4986
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	23 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	23 years	7 years
Marriage Place	English Church (St. Marys), Timaru
Folio	01/5379
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 November 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. Henry Williams, Church of England Clergyman

13 November 1901

Frank Taylor
Edith Louisa Best

Frank Taylor
Edith Louisa Best
💍 1901/4970

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

22 years
20 years

Timaru
Timaru

7 years
20 years

Dwellinghouse of Charles Massey, North Street, Timaru

01/5388

Elizabeth Massey, Mother

13 November 1901

Rev. J. Newman Buttle, Wesleyan Minister

No	72
Date of Notice	13 November 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Taylor	Edith Louisa Best
	💍 1901/4970
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	22 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	7 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of Charles Massey, North Street, Timaru
Folio	01/5388
Consent	Elizabeth Massey, Mother
Date of Certificate	13 November 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Newman Buttle, Wesleyan Minister

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).