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 515

District of Waimate Quarter ending 30 September 1901 Registrar Geo Robt Cooper

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
18	12 July 1901	James Fleming Jemima Stewart Purdy	James Fleming Jemima Stewart Barclay 💍 1901/3489 James Fleming Wilhelmina Prain 💍 1901/5516	Bachelor	Farmer	32 30	Glenavy Waimate Glenavy Waimate	2 years 9 months	Office of Registrar	01/3985		12 July 1901	H Gourley Registrar
19	23 July 1901	William Logan Ada Susannah Batcheld	William Logan Ada Susannah Batchelor 💍 1901/3490	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	24 20	Waimate Waimate	3 days 20 years	House of Benj Batcheld	01/3986	Benj Batcheld Father	23 July 1901	Rev J T Blight
20	14 August 1901	David Rutherglen Grant Annie Gipsia Allen	David Ruthven Grant Annie Gipsie Allen 💍 1901/3850	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	21 21	Waimate Waimate	11 years 2 years	Presbyterian Manse	01/4379		14 August 1901	Rev A S Morrison
21	17 August 1901	David O'Shea Ellen Moynihan	Daniel O'Shea Ellen Moynihan 💍 1901/3493	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	35 33	Waimate Waimate	17 years 2 years	Catholic Church	01/3989		17 August 1901	Rev P Regnault
22	9 September 1901	Henry William Dockrill Emeline Mary Ruby	Henry William Dockwill Emeline Mary Ruby 💍 1901/3491	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	25 25	Waimate Waimate	25 years 25 years	Mr Ruby's House	01/3987		9 September 1901	Rev J T Blight
23	11 September 1901	Alexander Bremner Annie Vigers	Alexander Bremner Annie Vigers 💍 1901/3498	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	33 20	Waimate Waimate	30 years 20 years	Church of England	01/3993	Edmund Vigers. Father	11 September 1901	Rev McKenzie Gibson
24	17 September 1901	George Calvert Rosa Annie Sturgess	George Calvert Rosa Annie Stirgers 💍 1901/3499	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	25 24	Waimate Waimate	25 years 24 years	Church of England	01/3994		17 September 1901	Rev McK Gibson
25	24 September 1901	Charles Albert Holtanby Fanny Louisa Smith	Charles Albert Hollamby Fanny Louisa Smith 💍 1901/4978	Bachelor Spinster	Cycle Expert	21 18	Waimate Waimate	17 years 18 years	House of Bride's Mother	01/5395	Louisa Smith Mother	24 September 1901	Rev McK Gibson

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).