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 939

District of Port Chalmers Quarter ending 30 June 1901 Registrar Thomas Muichliff

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
9	2 April 1901	John Walter Longman Mary Campbell Fullerton	John Walter Longman Mary Campbell Fullerton 💍 1901/2482	Bachelor Spinster	Preserver Household Duties	28 26	Timaru Port Chalmers	one year	House of Mrs A. Fullerton, Port Chalmers	01/2928		2 April 1901	Revd E. Smeaton, Presbyterian
10	4 April 1901	William Clifford Annie Rebecca Terry	William Clifford Annie Rebecca Perry 💍 1901/2501	Bachelor Spinster	Dredge Hand Domestic	27 28	Port Chalmers Port Chalmers	3 days 3 days	House of Mr Terry, Port Chalmers	01/2925		4 April 1901	Revd E. Taylor, Congregational
11	11 April 1901	Ernest William Wickmond Jessie Mattingly	Ernest William Richmond Jessie Mattinghy 💍 1901/2483	Widower Spinster	Seaman Domestic	30 19	Port Chalmers Port Chalmers	1 week 18 months	Church of England, Port Chalmers	01/2930	James Mattingly, Father	11 April 1901	Revd T. W. Kewley, Church of England
12	22 April 1901	George Graves Lizzie Kyle	George Groves Lizzie Lyle 💍 1901/2502	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	24 20	Port Chalmers Port Chalmers	24 yrs 20 yrs	House of Henry Phillips, Port Chalmers	01/2942	Alexander Kyle, Father	22 April 1901	Revd E. Taylor, Congregational
13	29 April 1901	George Willis Mary Ann Green	George Willis Mary Ann Green 💍 1901/2485	Bachelor Spinster	Engine Driver Domestic	33 22	Port Chalmers Port Chalmers	6 yrs 6 months	House of Sarah Green, Port Chalmers	01/2932		29 April 1901	Revd C. H. Standege, Wesleyan
14	30 April 1901	Charles Ernest Wise Catherine Mullany	Charles Ernest Wise Catherine Mullany 💍 1901/2484	Widower Spinster	Farmer Domestic	45 33	Port Chalmers Port Chalmers	3 days 3 days	Catholic Church, Port Chalmers	01/2931		30 April 1901	Revd Father McGrath, Catholic
15	24 May 1901	William Smith Catherine Tracey Robertson	William Smith Catherine Mason Robertson 💍 1901/2486	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	33 23	Port Chalmers Port Chalmers	1 month 3 days	House of James Rix, Port Chalmers	01/2933		24 May 1901	Revd C. H. Standege, Wesleyan

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).