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 871

District of Mt Benger Quarter ending 31 December 1901 Registrar Thomas Cook

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

218

7 October 1901

Robert Heming
Annie Blanche Hincock

Robert Fleming
Annie Blanche Hiscock
💍 1901/5420

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic

39 years
30 years

Roxburgh
Roxburgh

Six Months
30 years

At the Church of England Roxburgh

01/6091

7 October 1901

Rev C C Oldham

No	218
Date of Notice	7 October 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Heming	Annie Blanche Hincock
BDM Match (90%)	Robert Fleming	Annie Blanche Hiscock
	💍 1901/5420
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic
Age	39 years	30 years
Dwelling Place	Roxburgh	Roxburgh
Length of Residence	Six Months	30 years
Marriage Place	At the Church of England Roxburgh
Folio	01/6091
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 October 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev C C Oldham

219

26 October 1901

Daniel Weatherall
Allison Mary Ann Donaldson

Daniel Weatherall
Alison Mary Ann Donaldson
💍 1901/5501

Bachelor
Spinster

Coal Miner
House Keeper

21 years
23 years

Roxburgh
Roxburgh

Six years
one Month

At the house of Mr Thomas Weatherall Roxburgh

01/6045

26 October 1901

Rev L J Ryan

No	219
Date of Notice	26 October 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Weatherall	Allison Mary Ann Donaldson
BDM Match (98%)	Daniel Weatherall	Alison Mary Ann Donaldson
	💍 1901/5501
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coal Miner	House Keeper
Age	21 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Roxburgh	Roxburgh
Length of Residence	Six years	one Month
Marriage Place	At the house of Mr Thomas Weatherall Roxburgh
Folio	01/6045
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 October 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev L J Ryan

220

9 December 1901

John Allien Sowden
Elizabeth Sillars

John Atkinson Sowden
Elizabeth Sillars
💍 1901/5092

Bachelor
Spinster

Boiler Maker
Domestic

27 years
23 years

Millers Flat
Millers Flat

Three days
23 years

At the Presbyterian Church Roxburgh

01/5661

9 December 1901

Rev R Telford

No	220
Date of Notice	9 December 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Allien Sowden	Elizabeth Sillars
BDM Match (88%)	John Atkinson Sowden	Elizabeth Sillars
	💍 1901/5092
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boiler Maker	Domestic
Age	27 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Millers Flat	Millers Flat
Length of Residence	Three days	23 years
Marriage Place	At the Presbyterian Church Roxburgh
Folio	01/5661
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 December 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev R Telford

221

30 December 1901

Herbert Ernest Smith
Margaret Jane Gibson

Herbert Ernest Smith
Margaret Jane Gibson
💍 1902/488

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

30 years
23 years

Ettrick
Ettrick

Four years
23 years

At the House of Mr R Gibson Ettrick

09/1438

30 December 1901

Rev R Telford

No	221
Date of Notice	30 December 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Ernest Smith	Margaret Jane Gibson
	💍 1902/488
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	30 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Ettrick	Ettrick
Length of Residence	Four years	23 years
Marriage Place	At the House of Mr R Gibson Ettrick
Folio	09/1438
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 December 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev R Telford

222

30 December 1901

William Hilson Turner
Anne Manuel

William Wilson Turner
Anne Manuel
💍 1901/5093

Bachelor
Spinster

School Teacher
Domestic

31 years
28 years

Roxburgh
Coal Creek Flat

Three days
28 years

At the House of Mrs M E Manuel Coal Creek Flat

01/5662

30 December 1901

Rev R Telford

No	222
Date of Notice	30 December 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hilson Turner	Anne Manuel
BDM Match (98%)	William Wilson Turner	Anne Manuel
	💍 1901/5093
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School Teacher	Domestic
Age	31 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	Roxburgh	Coal Creek Flat
Length of Residence	Three days	28 years
Marriage Place	At the House of Mrs M E Manuel Coal Creek Flat
Folio	01/5662
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 December 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev R Telford

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).