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 601

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1902 Registrar W. J. Hall

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

30 January 1902

Adolf Goodman
Sarah Hewett

Adolf Goodman Goodmanson
Sarah Hewett
💍 1902/989

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabman

25 years
24 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

20 years
24 years

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages

02/1220

30 January 1902

W. J. Hall, Registrar of Marriages

No	36
Date of Notice	30 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Adolf Goodman	Sarah Hewett
BDM Match (77%)	Adolf Goodman Goodmanson	Sarah Hewett
	💍 1902/989
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabman
Age	25 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	20 years	24 years
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	02/1220
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1902
Officiating Minister	W. J. Hall, Registrar of Marriages

30 January 1902

Robert Borthwick
Agnes Dodds

Robert Borthwick
Agnes Dodds
💍 1902/1000

Widower
Spinster

Shepherd

55 years
24 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages

02/1001

30 January 1902

W. J. Hall, Registrar of Marriages

No	37
Date of Notice	30 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Borthwick	Agnes Dodds
	💍 1902/1000
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd
Age	55 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	02/1001
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1902
Officiating Minister	W. J. Hall, Registrar of Marriages

31 January 1902

Ernest Alfred North
Mary Thompson

Ernest Alfred Cecil North
May Thompson
💍 1902/366

Ernest Alfred Jory
Ada Eleanor Thompson
💍 1902/2855

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger

29 years
26 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

1 month
26 years

In the Tabernacle, Great King Street

02/1356

31 January 1902

Revd Charles Tatt, Church of Christ

No	38
Date of Notice	31 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Alfred North	Mary Thompson
BDM Match (84%)	Ernest Alfred Cecil North	May Thompson
	💍 1902/366
BDM Match (67%)	Ernest Alfred Jory	Ada Eleanor Thompson
	💍 1902/2855
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger
Age	29 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 month	26 years
Marriage Place	In the Tabernacle, Great King Street
Folio	02/1356
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Revd Charles Tatt, Church of Christ

31 January 1902

Charles Robert Lauren
Mary Maud White

Charles Robert Lauren
Mary Maud White
💍 1902/807

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

31 years
26 years

South Dunedin
Dunedin

6 years
6 years

In St. Patrick's Church

02/1314

31 January 1902

Revd James Coffey, Roman Catholic Priest

No	39
Date of Notice	31 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Robert Lauren	Mary Maud White
	💍 1902/807
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	31 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	6 years	6 years
Marriage Place	In St. Patrick's Church
Folio	02/1314
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Revd James Coffey, Roman Catholic Priest

31 January 1902

William Arthur Butz
Margaret Lilian Bellett

William Arthur Printz
Margaret Lilian Bellett
💍 1902/1057

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25 years
18 years

Dunedin
St. Kilda

3 months
15 years

In St. Peter's Church

02/1247

Patrick John Bellett, father of minor

31 January 1902

Revd B. In. King, Church of England Minister

No	40
Date of Notice	31 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Arthur Butz	Margaret Lilian Bellett
BDM Match (91%)	William Arthur Printz	Margaret Lilian Bellett
	💍 1902/1057
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	St. Kilda
Length of Residence	3 months	15 years
Marriage Place	In St. Peter's Church
Folio	02/1247
Consent	Patrick John Bellett, father of minor
Date of Certificate	31 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Revd B. In. King, Church of England Minister

1 February 1902

Denis Halpin
Elizabeth Orr

Denis Halpin
Elizabeth Orr
💍 1902/1007

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor

29 years
26 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 years
3 days

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages

02/1222

1 February 1902

W. J. Hall, Registrar of Marriages

No	41
Date of Notice	1 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Denis Halpin	Elizabeth Orr
	💍 1902/1007
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	29 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 years	3 days
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	02/1222
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1902
Officiating Minister	W. J. Hall, Registrar of Marriages

5 February 1902

John Major
Antonietta Tannini

John Major
Antonietta Vannini
💍 1902/799

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

26 years
20 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 years
11 years

In St. Joseph's Cathedral

02/1307

Margaret Braun, mother of minor

5 February 1902

Revd P. Murphy, Roman Catholic Priest

No	42
Date of Notice	5 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Major	Antonietta Tannini
BDM Match (97%)	John Major	Antonietta Vannini
	💍 1902/799
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	26 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 years	11 years
Marriage Place	In St. Joseph's Cathedral
Folio	02/1307
Consent	Margaret Braun, mother of minor
Date of Certificate	5 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Revd P. Murphy, Roman Catholic Priest

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).