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 735

District of Lawrence Quarter ending 31 March 1901 Registrar Alexander Miller Eyles

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

8 January 1901

Lionel Edwin Ellisson
Susan Smith

Lionel Edwin Ellisson
Susan Smith
💍 1901/746

Bachelor
Spinster

Teacher

34 years
26 years

Lawrence
Tuapeka West

4 days
26 years

House of Mr John Smith, Tuapeka West

01/1203

8 January 1901

Rev. J. A. Will (Presbyterian)

No	71
Date of Notice	8 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lionel Edwin Ellisson	Susan Smith
	💍 1901/746
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teacher
Age	34 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Lawrence	Tuapeka West
Length of Residence	4 days	26 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr John Smith, Tuapeka West
Folio	01/1203
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Will (Presbyterian)

18 January 1901

Ernest Penno
Mary Clarke Hore

Ernest Penns
Mary Clarke Hore
💍 1901/744

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

25 years
21 years

Blue Spur
Blue Spur

1 year
21 years

House of Mr Wm Hore, Blue Spur

01/1201

18 January 1901

Rev. J. S. W. Ellis (Wesleyan)

No	72
Date of Notice	18 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Penno	Mary Clarke Hore
BDM Match (96%)	Ernest Penns	Mary Clarke Hore
	💍 1901/744
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	25 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Blue Spur	Blue Spur
Length of Residence	1 year	21 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr Wm Hore, Blue Spur
Folio	01/1201
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. S. W. Ellis (Wesleyan)

30 January 1901

James Blair MacNab
Elizabeth Margaretta Pearson

James Blair MacNab
Elizabeth Margaretta Pearson
💍 1901/742

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

28 years
25 years

Lawrence
Lawrence

3 days
25 years

Church of England, Lawrence

01/1199

30 January 1901

Rev. Canon J. Richards (Church of England)

No	73
Date of Notice	30 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Blair MacNab	Elizabeth Margaretta Pearson
	💍 1901/742
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	28 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Lawrence	Lawrence
Length of Residence	3 days	25 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Lawrence
Folio	01/1199
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon J. Richards (Church of England)

5 February 1901

Hugh Cameron
Euphemia Cormack

Hugh Cameron
Euphemia Cormack
💍 1901/132

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

40 years
30 years

Tuapeka West
Lawrence

6 years
20 years

House of Mrs Cormack, Irvine St, Lawrence

01/1204

5 February 1901

Rev. J. A. Will (Presbyterian)

No	74
Date of Notice	5 February 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Cameron	Euphemia Cormack
	💍 1901/132
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	40 years	30 years
Dwelling Place	Tuapeka West	Lawrence
Length of Residence	6 years	20 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs Cormack, Irvine St, Lawrence
Folio	01/1204
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Will (Presbyterian)

26 February 1901

David Francis Alexander McKay
Elizabeth Selby Lidstone

David Francis Alexander McKay
Elizabeth Betsy Lidstom
💍 1901/777

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

23 years
23 years

Horse-shoe Bend
Beaumont

6 years
5 months

At the house of Mr Herbert Hand, Beaumont

01/1205

26 February 1901

Rev. J. A. Will (Presbyterian)

No	75
Date of Notice	26 February 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Francis Alexander McKay	Elizabeth Selby Lidstone
BDM Match (90%)	David Francis Alexander McKay	Elizabeth Betsy Lidstom
	💍 1901/777
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	23 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Horse-shoe Bend	Beaumont
Length of Residence	6 years	5 months
Marriage Place	At the house of Mr Herbert Hand, Beaumont
Folio	01/1205
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Will (Presbyterian)

20 March 1901

Montague Carruthers
Alice Arnold

Montague Carruthers
Alice Arnold
💍 1901/743

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

23 years
22 years

Lawrence
Lawrence

1 year
12 years

In the house of Mr John Arnold, Lawrence

01/1200

20 March 1901

Rev. J. S. W. Ellis (Wesleyan)

No	76
Date of Notice	20 March 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Montague Carruthers	Alice Arnold
	💍 1901/743
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	23 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Lawrence	Lawrence
Length of Residence	1 year	12 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr John Arnold, Lawrence
Folio	01/1200
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 March 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. S. W. Ellis (Wesleyan)

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).