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 335

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 1901 Registrar J.M. Vaullesson

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
542	1 October 1901	David Guthrie Bell Annie Bella ??	No corresponding marriage registration located.	Bachelor Spinster	Waller	23 21	Christchurch Christchurch	2 months 16 weeks	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	Marriage has not been solemnized, 31/1/02	16 October 1901	Registrar J.M. Vaullesson
543	17 October 1901	Charles Henry Leigh Waller Mary Lockhart Upane	Charles Henry Leigh Walter Mary Lockhart 💍 1901/4865	Bachelor Domestic	Clerk Domestic	26 27	Christchurch Papanui	12 years 27 years	Presbyterian Church, Christchurch	01/5267	17 October 1901	Rev L. Simpson, Presbyterian
544	17 October 1901	Joseph Sydney Richards Caroline Francine Fraudger	Joseph Sydney Richards Caroline Francine Frandsen 💍 1901/4688	Bachelor Spinster	Baller Domestic	29 27	Christchurch Christchurch	6 months 2 years	House of Mr. H.C. Fraudger	01/5293	17 October 1901	Rev W. Rae, Wesleyan
545	18 October 1901	Gavin Dick Annie Fendall	Gavin Dick Annie Sendall 💍 1901/5372	Bachelor Spinster	Carter Domestic	29 25	Christchurch Upper Riccarton	10 years 18 years	House of Mr. Wm. Boon, Upper Riccarton	01/5979	18 October 1901	Rev J. Maclean, Presbyterian
546	19 October 1901	John Bradley Wilson Esther Catherine Baylee	John Bradley Esther Catherine Bayler 💍 1901/4754	Widower Widow	Decorator Domestic	62 49	Christchurch Christchurch	18 years 10 years	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	01/5181	19 October 1901	Registrar J.M. Vaullesson
547	19 October 1901	Daniel Murphy Mary Ann Kissanowski	Daniel Murphy Mary Anne Kiesanowski 💍 1901/4880	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	30 24	Christchurch Christchurch	20 years 16 years	Saint Mary's Church, Manchester Street	01/5281	19 October 1901	Rev J. Mearman, Romanist
548	19 October 1901	Hugh McAllum Jessie Marion Menzies Flack	Hugh McAllum Jessie Merin Menzies Flick 💍 1901/5370	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	26 24	Christchurch Christchurch	6 days 20 years	Saint Paul's Church, Cashel Street	01/5969	19 October 1901	Rev Iv. Ilenslie, Presbyterian

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).