Intentions to Marry, 1902 South Island

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840422, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke and Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, October 3 and October 8, 2025.

1902 is bound in two volumes, North Island districts and South Island districts.

Page 771

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1902 Registrar J. G. Petrie

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

17 February 1902

Ernest Spindler Harris
Rosina Webb

Ernest Spindler Harris
Rosina Webb
💍 1902/444

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

26
26

Invercargill
Invercargill

2 days
6 months

Residence of John Robert Webb, McMaster Street, East Invercargill

02/1413

17 February 1902

Rev. Andrew Stocker

No	22
Date of Notice	17 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Spindler Harris	Rosina Webb
	💍 1902/444
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 days	6 months
Marriage Place	Residence of John Robert Webb, McMaster Street, East Invercargill
Folio	02/1413
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Andrew Stocker

17 February 1902

William Rawson McRobie
Mary Bell

William Henry Parker
Mary Bell
💍 1902/4716

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic

32
29

Invercargill
Invercargill

32 years
10 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

02/1388

17 February 1902

Registrar of Marriages

No	23
Date of Notice	17 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Rawson McRobie	Mary Bell
BDM Match (70%)	William Henry Parker	Mary Bell
	💍 1902/4716
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic
Age	32	29
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	32 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill
Folio	02/1388
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

20 February 1902

William Ramsay
Johanna Grant

William Ramsay
Johanna Grant
💍 1902/465

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener

29
27

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
7 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

02/1389

20 February 1902

Registrar of Marriages

No	24
Date of Notice	20 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Ramsay	Johanna Grant
	💍 1902/465
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	7 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill
Folio	02/1389
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

22 February 1902

Stephen Bard
Jesse Elizabeth

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic

33
30

Merton, Southland
Invercargill

15 years
8 months

Residence of James Bard, Spey Street, Invercargill

02/1406

22 February 1902

Rev. James Bard

No	25
Date of Notice	22 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stephen Bard	Jesse Elizabeth
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic
Age	33	30
Dwelling Place	Merton, Southland	Invercargill
Length of Residence	15 years	8 months
Marriage Place	Residence of James Bard, Spey Street, Invercargill
Folio	02/1406
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Bard

22 February 1902

John Russell
Caroline Rodger

John Russell
Caroline Rodger
💍 1902/466

Bachelor
Spinster

Wool Sorter
Domestic

25
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

8 years
8 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

02/1390

22 February 1902

Registrar of Marriages

No	26
Date of Notice	22 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Russell	Caroline Rodger
	💍 1902/466
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wool Sorter	Domestic
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	8 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill
Folio	02/1390
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

25 February 1902

John McLean
Elizabeth Canon

John McLean
Elizabeth Carson
💍 1902/427

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

25
18

Invercargill
Invercargill

20 years
18 years

Residence of Thomas Canon, Makarewa

02/1419

Thomas Canon, father

25 February 1902

Rev. James Cumming

No	27
Date of Notice	25 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McLean	Elizabeth Canon
BDM Match (94%)	John McLean	Elizabeth Carson
	💍 1902/427
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	20 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Thomas Canon, Makarewa
Folio	02/1419
Consent	Thomas Canon, father
Date of Certificate	25 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Cumming

25 February 1902

James Alexander
Jane McNutre

James Alexander Fraser
Jane McMurtrie
💍 1902/409

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

32
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

2 days
3 days

St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, Invercargill

02/1401

25 February 1902

Rev. G. W. Lindsey

No	28
Date of Notice	25 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Alexander	Jane McNutre
BDM Match (73%)	James Alexander Fraser	Jane McMurtrie
	💍 1902/409
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, Invercargill
Folio	02/1401
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Lindsey

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 1908. 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).