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 747

District of Gore Quarter ending 30 June 1901 Registrar Theodore King

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
9 April 1901	Samuel Ellaby Ferguson Margaret McLean	Samuel Ellaby Ferguson Margaret Mclean 💍 1901/2386	Bachelor Spinster	Watchmaker	33 27	Gore Gore	3 yrs 16 yrs	Presbyterian Church Gore	01/2834		3 April 1901	Rev. Andrew Gray, Presbyterian Clergyman, Gore
10 April 1901	John Hartley Grace Middlemiss	John Hartley Grace Middlemiss 💍 1901/2404	Bachelor Spinster	Coal miner	31 18	Gore Gore	4 yrs 18 yrs	Residence of Mr A Middlemiss, Gore	01/2828	Andrew Middlemiss, Father of Bride	11 April 1901	Rev. J. A. Kayll, English Church Clergyman, Gore
11 April 1901	Charles Grosb Deans Isadora Lovenia Smith	Charles George Deans Isadora Lovenia Smith 💍 1901/2403	Widower Spinster	Dredgeman	24 21	Gore Croydon	1 yr 21 yrs	Residence of Mr Arthur Smith, Croydon	01/2827		11 April 1901	Rev. J. A. Kayll, English Church Clergyman, Gore
12 April 1901	Charles McLaren Turnbull Henrietta Jones	Charles McLaren Turnbull Henrietta Jones 💍 1901/2516	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 26	Gore East Chatton	8 yrs 25 yrs	Residence of Mr H S Jones, East Chatton	01/2966		27 April 1901	Rev Peter Ramsay, Presbyterian Clergyman, Gore
13 April 1901	William Wilson Chapman Mary Crombie Wilson	William Nixon Chapman Mary Crombie Wilson 💍 1901/2387	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	25 24	Gore Goulburn St Gore	3 days 1 week	Residence of Mr David Wilson, Goulburn St Gore	01/2835		30 April 1901	Rev Andrew Gray, Presbyterian Clergyman, Gore
14 May 1901	William Francis Page Francis Sophia Meekings	William Francis Page Frances Sophia Meeking 💍 1901/2385	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	27 30	Gore Near Pukerau	4 days 20 yrs	Residence of Mr Meekings, Near Pukerau	01/2833		20 May 1901	Rev John Gordon McLeod, Presbyterian Clergyman, Gore
15 May 1901	George Peterson Margaret Stewart	George Peterson Margaret Stewart 💍 1901/2384	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	32 27	Gore Gore	2 yrs 1 yr	Residence of Mrs H. Stewart, Gore	01/2832		27 May 1901	Rev. H. Beggs, Wesleyan Clergyman, Gore
16 May 1901	Lawrence Scotland Gillespie Isabella McKay	Laurence Scotland Gillespie Isabella McKay 💍 1901/2517	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 21	Gore Otama	23 yrs 21 yrs	Residence of Mr John McKay, Otama	01/2967	John McKay, Father of Bride	29 May 1901	Rev. Peter Ramsay, Presbyterian Clergyman, Gore

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).