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 305

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 1901 Registrar S. P. MacLean

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
368	3 July 1901	Hugh Hodge Annie Hamill Russell	Hugh Hodge Annie Hamill 💍 1901/3292	Widower Spinster	Blacksmith	44 38	Sydenham Sydenham	29 years 38 years	Registrar Office, Christchurch	01/3753		3 July 1901	Registrar, S. P. MacLean
369	3 July 1901	William Arthur O'Callaghan Ethel Lillie Russell	William Arthur O'Callaghan Ethel Nellie Russell 💍 1901/3612	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	24 25	Fendalton Fendalton	3 years 10 years	St. Barnabas Church	01/3862		3 July 1901	Rev. T. A. Hamilton, Anglican
370	3 July 1901	John Shaw Annie Storey	John Shannon Annie Stott 💍 1901/3325	Bachelor Spinster	Boiler Maker	23 24	Sydenham Sydenham	6 months 2 months	Pres. Cathedral, Barbadoes St., Christchurch	01/3835		3 July 1901	Rev. H. McEwan, Presbyterian
371	4 July 1901	Charles Wilson ?? Kitchener	Charles Wilson Madge Kilchener 💍 1901/3293	Bachelor Spinster	Upholsterer	25 23	Sydenham Sydenham	6 months 8 months	Registrar Office, Christchurch	01/3754		4 July 1901	Registrar, S. P. MacLean
372	6 July 1901	John George Kettle Mary Elizabeth Barron	John George Kettle Mary Elizabeth Barson 💍 1901/3625	Bachelor Spinster	Bricklayer	24 22	Papanui Linwood	20 years 16 years	Church of the Good Shepherd, Linwood	01/3852		6 July 1901	Rev. H. S. Ensor, Anglican
373	8 July 1901	James Inkster Jessie Bradley Rollo	James Inkster Jessie Bradley Rollo 💍 1901/3921	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	31 25	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 1 year	St. Paul's, Papanui	01/4354		8 July 1901	Rev. Dr. Elmslie, Presbyterian
374	8 July 1901	George Dempster Gowie Helena Henrietta Lehrs	George Dempster Gowie Helena Harrietta Lehrs 💍 1901/3923	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	23 20	Lyttelton Christchurch	3 years 1 year	Private House, 3 Br. [illegible] St., Christchurch	01/4356	Jane Lehrs, Mother	8 July 1901	Rev. Dr. Elmslie, Presbyterian
375	8 July 1901	William Jackson Jane Alberta Ellery	William Jackson Jane Alberta Elerig 💍 1901/3835	Bachelor Spinster	Salesman Saleswoman	29 29	Sydenham Christchurch	14 years 4 years	St. Matthew's Church	01/4319		8 July 1901	Rev. H. Williams, Anglican

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).