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 504

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 September 1901 Registrar R. W. Monty

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
55	10 August 1901	George Ogden Lily Amelia Gilbat Fitzsimmon	George Ogden Lily Amelia Gilbert Fitzsimmons 💍 1901/3485	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	23 years 23 years	Timaru Timaru	23 years 23 years	English Church (St Marys) Timaru	01/3981		10 August 1901	Archdeacon H. W. Harper, Church of England Clergyman
56	12 August 1901	Alexander Dohenet Maria Snowling Beswarick	Alexander Lohenet Maria Knowling Biswarick 💍 1901/3483	Widower Widow	Cook Boardinghouse Keeper	61 years 46 years	Timaru Timaru	2 years 9 years	Dwellinghouse of Rev Samuel Buchanan, Russell Square, Timaru	01/3970		12 August 1901	Rev Samuel Buchanan, Primitive Methodist Minister
57	12 August 1901	James Reese Start Mary Ann Caswell	James Reese Hart Mary Ann Caswell 💍 1901/3486	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 years 22 years	Timaru Timaru	4 days 4 days	St Marys English Church Timaru	01/3982		12 August 1901	Archdeacon H. W. Harper, Church of England Clergyman
58	29 August 1901	Donald Munro Agnes White	Donald McCallum Ann White 💍 1902/2712	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	31 years 32 years	Timaru Timaru	3 days 32 years	Dwellinghouse of Mrs White, Wattlegrove, Timaru	01/3976		29 August 1901	Rev. Joseph White, Presbyterian Minister
59	31 August 1901	Christopher William Shrimpton Selina Mitchell Murray	Christopher William Irimpton Robina Mitchell Murray 💍 1901/3506	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Domestic Duties	49 years 30 years	Pareora Timaru	20 years 15 years	Dwellinghouse of Mrs Murray, North Street, Timaru	01/3977		31 August 1901	Rev. Joseph White, Presbyterian Minister
60	3 September 1901	Thomas Glynn Ada Smith	Thomas Thyne Ada Smith 💍 1901/3487	Bachelor Spinster	Bookbinder Dressmaker	24 years 26 years	Timaru Timaru	6 days 6 years	Dwellinghouse of Robert Smith, Barnard Street, Timaru	01/3983		3 September 1901	Archdeacon H. W. Harper, Church of England Clergyman
61	11 September 1901	Edward Ellem Florence Gould	Thomas Percival Edward Ellen Florence Gould 💍 1901/3494	Bachelor Spinster	Bricklayer	22 years 23 years	Timaru Timaru	22 years 15 years	Dwellinghouse of Rev G. Burgess, Timaru	01/3971		11 September 1901	Rev. George Burgess, Congregational Minister
62	14 September 1901	Arthur Thomas Davies Florence Emily Merry	Arthur Thomas Davies Florence Emily Whelck 💍 1901/3488	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Music Teacher	30 years 25 years	Timaru Timaru	3 days 4 years	English Church (St Marys) Timaru	01/3984		14 September 1901	Archdeacon H. W. Harper, Church of England Clergyman
63	21 September 1901	John Maubon Jessie Cowell	John Manbon Jessie Powell 💍 1901/3503	Bachelor Spinster	Wharf Labourer	42 years 36 years	Timaru Timaru	10 years 9 years	Roman Catholic Priory Timaru	01/3974		21 September 1901	Rev. Paul Aubry, Roman Catholic Priest
64	24 September 1901	Richard Albert Merry Olive Minnie Merry	Richard Albert George Fowke Alice Melville Merry 💍 1901/4985	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	24 years 20 years	Timaru Timaru	2 weeks 5 weeks	English Church Timaru	01/5378	John Merry, father of bride	24 September 1901	Archdeacon H. W. Harper, Church of England Clergyman

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).