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 927

District of Palmerston Quarter ending 31 December 1901 Registrar F W Falke

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
11	25 October 1901	Henry Stephen Smith Jessie Foote	Henry Stephen Smith Jessie Foster 💍 1901/5066	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer Dressmaker	25 21	Palmerston Palmerston	4 days 4 days	Office of Registrar of marriages Palmerston	01/5685	28 October 1901	F W Falke Registrar of marriages
12	6 November 1901	James Thomas Barclay Mary Mason Pitaway	James Thomas Barclay Mary Mason Pittaway 💍 1901/5469	Bachelor Spinster	Railway employee	27 25	Palmerston Palmerston	3 days 25 years	Residence of William Pitaway Palmerston	01/6005	6 November 1901	Rev J Ohio Wesleyan
12A	8 November 1901	Morris Burgess Allan Smith	Moses Burgess Ellen Smith 💍 1901/5067	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 22	Shag Point Shag Point	1 week 10 years	Office of Registrar of marriages Palmerston	01/5686	18 November 1901	F W Falke Regr of marriages
13	20 November 1901	Robert Michael Isaacs Margaret Clarke	Robert Michael Isaacs Margaret Clarke 💍 1901/5068	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Domestic	32 27	Palmerston Palmerston	4 days 27 yrs	Office of Registrar of marriages Palmerston	01/5687	20 November 1901	F W Falke Regr of marriages Palmerston
14	6 December 1901	Francis Ann Ellis Grieve Sarah Espie Finlay	Francis James Ellis Glover Sarah Espie Milne 💍 1901/5054	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic	24 23	Dunback Palmerston	24 yrs 23 yrs	Residence of James Finlay Palmerston	01/5688	6 December 1901	Rev James Clarke Presbyterian
15	7 December 1901	James Hugh Cunningham Mary Ann Sutherland	James Hugh Cunningham Mary Ann Sutherland 💍 1901/5055	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Domestic	25 27	Dunback Palmerston	25 yrs 27 yrs	Residence of John Sutherland Goodwood	01/5689	15 December 1901	Rev James Clarke Presbyterian
16	30 December 1901	Daniel Robison Susan Boll	Daniel Robertson Susan Boll 💍 1901/5056	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	24 25	Palmerston Shag Point	24 yrs 16 yrs	The Manse Palmerston	01/5690	30 December 1901	Revd James Clark Presbyterian

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).