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 907

District of Otautau Quarter ending 30 June 1899 Registrar W. Croft

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
76	30 April 1899	Charles McLennan Jane McFarlane	Charles McKinnon Jane McGarvie 💍 1901/2649	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic duties	22 21	Fortrose Otautau	3 days 21 years	Dwelling house of Mr McFarlane, Otautau	01/2909		30 April 1899	Rev A Macdonald
77	30 April 1899	Robert Thompson Ellen Horgan	Robert Thompson Ellen Hogan 💍 1901/3756 Frederick Thompson Ellen Pearson 💍 1901/820	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic duties	21 21	Wreys Bush Wreys Bush	6 years 6 years	Roman Catholic Church, Wreys Bush	01/4236		30 April 1899	Rev M Walsh
78	13 May 1899	Joseph Andrew Dale Margaret Maria O'Fee	Joseph Truesdale Beck Margaret Maria Officer 💍 1901/2650	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic duties	24 21	Wairio Scotts Gap	24 years 10	Presbyterian Church, Wairio	01/2910		13 May 1899	Rev A Macdonald
79	14 May 1899	Dennis McCarthy Ann Prendeville	Denis McCarthy Annie Prendeville 💍 1901/6313	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic duties	45 19	Wreys Bush Wreys Bush	15 years 15 years	Roman Catholic Church, Annandale	01/4237	Michael Prendeville, Father	14 May 1899	Rev M Walsh
80	20 May 1899	Charles Allan Anderson Mary Jane Stewart	Charles Allan Henderson Mary Jane Stewart 💍 1901/2651	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic duties	25 20	Drummond Drummond	2 years 18 years	Dwelling house of Mr Stewart, Drummond	01/2911	Hugh Stewart, Father	20 May 1899	Rev W Brown
81	5 June 1899	Ernest Maan Ellen Henderson	Ernest Mason Ellen Henderson 💍 1901/2653	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Domestic duties	31 20	Round Hill Otautau	2 years 20	Dwelling house of Mrs J Henderson, Otautau	01/2913	Jane Henderson, Mother	5 June 1899	Rev J. T. Boys
82	12 June 1899	Thomas William Stroud Elizabeth Mary Bowcher Newton	Thomas William Stroud Elizabeth Mary Bowcher Newton 💍 1901/2654	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic duties	25 26	Annandale North Wairio	3 years 5 years	Dwelling house of William Newton, Wairio	01/2914		12 June 1899	Rev J. T. Boys
83	14 June 1899	Alexander Manson Margaret McDougal	Alexander Manson Margaret McKenzie McDougall 💍 1901/2652	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic duties	28 25	Otautau Fairfax	5 years 25	Dwelling house of Mrs McDougal, Fairfax	01/2912		14 June 1899	Rev W Brown

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).