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 751

District of Gore Quarter ending 31 December 1901 Registrar Theodor Kinf

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
31	7 October 1901	James Ryder Mary Ann Greig	James Ryder Mary Ann Greig 💍 1901/5052	Bachelor Spinster	Fellmonger	28 20	Gore Gore	16 years 16 years	Registrar's Office, Gore	01/5585	Father of Bride - John Greig	7 October 1901	Theodor Kinf, Registrar, Gore
32	12 October 1901	John McLaren Given Elizabeth Perelle	John McLaren Niven Elizabeth Violet de la Perrelle 💍 1901/5129 John Lincoln Elizabeth Steele 💍 1901/2051 John McLean Elizabeth Carson 💍 1902/427	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	24 22	Gore Arrow	5 weeks 22 years	English Church, Arrow	01/5723		12 October 1901	Rev H Brooke, English Church Clergyman, Arrowtown
33	28 October 1901	Charles Alexander Travis Elizabeth Patterson	Charles Alexander Travis Elizabeth Patterson 💍 1901/5034 Charles Henry Johnston Elizabeth Patterson 💍 1901/2116	Bachelor Spinster	Bacon Curer	21 21	Gore Gore	3 days 3 days	Registrar's Office, Gore	01/5586		28 October 1901	Theodor Kinf, Registrar, Gore
34	16 November 1901	George Kerr Jane Irvine Grieve	George Kerr Jane Irvine Grieve 💍 1901/5090	Bachelor Spinster	Stock Agent	31 22	Gore Bushy Park	9 years 22 years at Bushy Park	Residence of her Thomas Grieve	01/5659		16 November 1901	Rev J M Davidson, Presbyterian Clergyman, Mataura
35	20 November 1901	James McGregor Barron Henrietta Johnston	James McGregor Barron Henrietta Johnston 💍 1901/5496	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	28 23	Gore Gore	8 years 10 years	Wesleyan Parsonage, Gore	01/6040		20 November 1901	Rev H Beggs, Wesleyan Clergyman, Gore
36	25 November 1901	Francis Walter Jenks Annie Smith	Francis Walter Jenks Annie Smith 💍 1901/5037	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	21 21	Gore Gore	1 week 6 months	Residence of her Hugh Smith, Carrier, Gore	01/5589		25 November 1901	Rev Andrew Gray, Presbyterian Clergyman, Gore
37	9 December 1901	Edward George Phillips Catherine Fullarton Kempton	Edward George Phillips Catherine Fullarton Kempton 💍 1901/5035	Bachelor Spinster	Shipping Clerk	32 24	Invercargill Gore	20 years 4 days	English Church, Gore	01/5587		9 December 1901	Rev J L A Kayll, English Church Clergyman, Gore
38	10 December 1901	David Caithness Johan McLellan	David Caithness Johan McLellan 💍 1901/5036	Bachelor Spinster	Dredgemaster	27 23	Waimumu Waikaka	3 days 3 years	Residence of Hugh McLellan, Waikaka	01/5588		10 December 1901	Rev W. F. Findlay, Presbyterian Clergyman, Waikaka

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).