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 293

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 1901 Registrar J. M. Vaudreeson

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
283	22 May 1901	Young Charles Wealleans Ada Newton	Young Charles Wealleans Ada Newton 💍 1901/2174	Bachelor Spinster	Telegraphist	24 27	Christchurch Christchurch	7 years 20 years	House of Mrs Newton, North Street, St Albans	01/2508		22 May 1901	Rev H. Laws, Wesleyan
284	22 May 1901	Edward Counihan Edith Taylor Speight	Edward Connihan Edith Taylor 💍 1901/2173	Bachelor Spinster	Collector	21 22	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 4 years	House of Mrs Power, Cashel Street, Linwood	01/2507		22 May 1901	Rev H. Laws, Wesleyan
285	22 May 1901	Lars Larsen Ida Miriam Oppenheim	Lars Larsen Ida Miriam Oppenheim 💍 1901/2110	Bachelor Spinster	Master Mariner	29 16	Ship Edward Christchurch	16 years	Registrars Office, Christchurch	01/2395	Albert C. Oppenheim, father	22 May 1901	Registrar J. M. Vaudreeson
286	23 May 1901	James McFerran Emily Wellington	James McFerran Emily Wellington 💍 1901/1991	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	29 28	Christchurch Christchurch	27 years 14 years	St Michaels Church, Christchurch	01/2270		23 May 1901	Rev A. W. Averill, Anglican
287	23 May 1901	Frank Wilson Smith Josephine Alice Frances Moore	Frank Wilson Smith Josephine Alice Moore 💍 1901/1659	Bachelor Divorced	Solicitor	37 27	Christchurch Wellington	30 years 10 days	Registrars Office, Wellington	01/2066		23 May 1901	Registrar of Marriages, Wellington
288	25 May 1901	Cecil Carlton Hobbs Margaret Burner	Cecil Carlton James Hobbs Margaret Burke 💍 1901/2111	Bachelor Domestic	Miner	39 38	Christchurch Christchurch	24 years 10 years	Registrars Office, Christchurch	01/2396		25 May 1901	Registrar J. M. Vaudreeson
289	25 May 1901	Robert Henry Geddes Jeannie Galletly	Robert Henry Geddis Jeannie Galletly 💍 1901/2067	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 26	Christchurch Christchurch	29 years 16 years	House of Mr W. Thomson, Linwood	01/2272		25 May 1901	Rev J. M. Thomson, Presbyterian
290	27 May 1901	Abraham Henry Daily Wallis Emily Wallis	Abraham Henry Townsend Emily Wallis 💍 1901/2185	Widower Nurse	Fitter	58 37	Christchurch Christchurch	29 years 30 years	House of Mr Frankford, St Albans	01/2544		27 May 1901	Rev G. Manifold, Church of Christ

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).