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 498

District of Timaru Quarter ending 31 March 1901 Registrar Alex. Montgomery

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
11	5 February 1901	Andrew John Dunn Elizabeth Ann Taylor	Andrew John Dunn Elizabeth Ann Taylor 💍 1901/604	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker Housemaid	24 years 24 years	Timaru Timaru	3 days 3 days	Roman Catholic Church, Timaru	01/1034		5 February 1901	Rev. E. Pertus, Roman Catholic Priest
12	11 February 1901	Fred Bartlett Hawkey Jeanie Rundle	Fred Bartlett Hawkey Jeanie Rundle 💍 1901/620	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker Domestic Servant	23 years 24 years	Timaru Fairview	23 years 3 weeks	Dwellinghouse of John Rundle, Fairview	01/1057		11 February 1901	Rev. W. C. Woodward, Primitive Methodist Minister
13	13 February 1901	Charles Edward Knight Lucy Emma White	Charles Edward Knight Lucy Emma White 💍 1901/605	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	34 years 24 years	Timaru Timaru	34 years 6 months	Catholic Church, Timaru	01/1035		13 February 1901	Rev. John Lubman, Roman Catholic Priest
14	15 February 1901	Andrew Stuart Martin Eveline Anne Wright Hopkins	Andrew Stuart Mactier Eveline Ann Wright Hopkins 💍 1901/598	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Domestic Servant	24 years 22 years	Timaru Glen-itti	3 days 1 week	Registrar's Office, Timaru	01/1009		15 February 1901	Alex. Montgomery, Registrar
15	16 February 1901	Michael Peter Sullivan Lily Cotter	Michael Peter Sullivan Lily Cotter 💍 1901/634	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Tailoress	22 years 19 years	Timaru Timaru	6 months 3 days	Dwellinghouse of John Ellis, Elizabeth Street, Timaru	01/1044	James Cotter, father	16 February 1901	Rev. J. Newman Buttle, Wesleyan Minister
16	18 February 1901	James McCormick Bridget Theresa Jennings	James McCormick Bridget Theresa Jennings 💍 1901/606	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier Domestic Servant	26 years 22 years	Timaru Timaru	20 years 10 years	Roman Catholic Church, Timaru	01/1036		18 February 1901	Rev. John Lubman, Roman Catholic Priest
17	26 February 1901	Charles Robert Brown Annie Boyd Stewart	Charles Robert Aburn Annie Boyd Stewart 💍 1901/618	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Tailoress	26 years 24 years	Timaru Timaru	3 days 15 years	Dwellinghouse of James Stewart, Timaru	01/1049		26 February 1901	Rev. Wm. Gillies, Presbyterian Minister
18	26 February 1901	Walter William Smedley Jessie Maxwell Hunter	Walter William Sneesly Jessie Maxwell Hunter 💍 1901/619	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	22 years 21 years	Washdyke Washdyke	3 days 21 years	Dwellinghouse of Robert Hunter, Washdyke	01/1050		26 February 1901	Rev. Wm. Gillies, Presbyterian Minister
19	26 February 1901	Michael John O'Connor Florence Caroline Cowan	Michael John O'Connor Florence Caroline Cowan 💍 1901/599	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	24 years 22 years	Timaru Timaru	4 days 6 weeks	Registrar's Office, Timaru	01/1030		26 February 1901	Alex. Montgomery, Registrar
20	5 March 1901	Francis Archibald Raymond Mary Calloway	Francis Archdall Raymond Mary Galloway 💍 1901/477	Bachelor Spinster	Insurance Manager Hospital Nurse	35 years 26 years	Timaru Christchurch	21 years 3 days	English Church, Addington, Christchurch	01/879		5 March 1901	Rev. K. S. Bran, Church of England Clergy

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).