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 769

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1902 Registrar J. C. 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

25 January 1902

Edmond Richardson
Elizabeth Alice May Dickenson

Bachelor
Spinster

Architect

30
31

Invercargill
Invercargill

28 years
4 years

St. John's Church of England, Tay Street, Invercargill

02/1411

25 January 1902

Rev. Auden Preller

No	8
Date of Notice	25 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmond Richardson	Elizabeth Alice May Dickenson
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Architect
Age	30	31
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	28 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church of England, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	02/1411
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Auden Preller

27 January 1902

John Cooley
Celia Ports

John Goaley
Celia Ford
💍 1902/431

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
General Servant

42
40

Invercargill
Invercargill

7 days
7 days

St. Mary's Catholic Church, Clyde Street, Invercargill

02/1423

27 January 1902

Very Rev. Dean Burke

No	9
Date of Notice	27 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Cooley	Celia Ports
BDM Match (77%)	John Goaley	Celia Ford
	💍 1902/431
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	General Servant
Age	42	40
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	7 days	7 days
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Catholic Church, Clyde Street, Invercargill
Folio	02/1423
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean Burke

27 January 1902

Charles Purdie
Ellen Lowina Downes

Charles Purdue
Ellen Louisa Townsend
💍 1902/448

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Machinist

27
25

North Invercargill
North Invercargill

20 years
25 years

Town of Riccarton, North Invercargill

02/1417

27 January 1902

Rev. J. R. Luxford

No	10
Date of Notice	27 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Purdie	Ellen Lowina Downes
BDM Match (82%)	Charles Purdue	Ellen Louisa Townsend
	💍 1902/448
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Machinist
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	North Invercargill	North Invercargill
Length of Residence	20 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Town of Riccarton, North Invercargill
Folio	02/1417
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Luxford

28 January 1902

Albert Abdiel Howell
Helen Maud Ogilvie

Albert Abdiel Howell
Helen Baird Ogilvie
💍 1902/408

Widower
Spinster

Shopkeeper

47
35

Invercargill
Invercargill

17 years
3 days

St. Thomas, Kelvin Street, Invercargill

02/1400

28 January 1902

Rev. G. H. Lindsay

No	11
Date of Notice	28 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Abdiel Howell	Helen Maud Ogilvie
BDM Match (92%)	Albert Abdiel Howell	Helen Baird Ogilvie
	💍 1902/408
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Shopkeeper
Age	47	35
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	17 years	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Thomas, Kelvin Street, Invercargill
Folio	02/1400
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Lindsay

30 January 1902

David Thomas Pope
Emmeline Minnie Waddell

David Thomas Hope
Emmeline Minnie Waddell
💍 1902/3243

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver

29
20

Woodlands
Woodlands

8 months
20 years

Town of Mrs. Emmeline Waddell, Woodlands

02/1957

Emmeline Waddell, mother

30 January 1902

Rev. Evan Ainett

No	12
Date of Notice	30 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Thomas Pope	Emmeline Minnie Waddell
BDM Match (97%)	David Thomas Hope	Emmeline Minnie Waddell
	💍 1902/3243
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Woodlands	Woodlands
Length of Residence	8 months	20 years
Marriage Place	Town of Mrs. Emmeline Waddell, Woodlands
Folio	02/1957
Consent	Emmeline Waddell, mother
Date of Certificate	30 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Evan Ainett

3 February 1902

Philip Richard Nixon
Amy Maud Stevens

Philip Richard Viner Clarke
Amy Maud Stevens
💍 1902/443

Widower
Widow

Carpenter
Domestic

42
33

South Invercargill
South Invercargill

18 months
12 months

All Saints English Church, Gladstone

02/1412

3 February 1902

Rev. D. C. Bates

No	13
Date of Notice	3 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip Richard Nixon	Amy Maud Stevens
BDM Match (80%)	Philip Richard Viner Clarke	Amy Maud Stevens
	💍 1902/443
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	42	33
Dwelling Place	South Invercargill	South Invercargill
Length of Residence	18 months	12 months
Marriage Place	All Saints English Church, Gladstone
Folio	02/1412
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. C. Bates

4 February 1902

Angelo Pasco
Agnes Maud Murphy

Angelo Pasco
Agnes Maud Murphy
💍 1902/432

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant
Domestic

34
25

Invercargill
Invercargill

15 years
6 days

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Clyde Street, Invercargill

02/1424

4 February 1902

Very Rev. Dean Burke

No	14
Date of Notice	4 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Angelo Pasco	Agnes Maud Murphy
	💍 1902/432
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant	Domestic
Age	34	25
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	15 years	6 days
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Clyde Street, Invercargill
Folio	02/1424
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean Burke

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 1903. 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).