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 493

District of Timaru Quarter ending 31 December 1902 Registrar Alex Montgomery

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

18 November 1902

John Horrocks Whellan
Florence Amy Hargood

John Horrocks Whellan
Florence Amy Hargood
💍 1902/6087

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial
Traveller, Domestic Duties

23 years
21 years

Timaru
Timaru

3 weeks
3 days

Registrar's Office, Timaru

02/5853

18 November 1902

Alex Montgomery, Registrar

No	67
Date of Notice	18 November 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Horrocks Whellan	Florence Amy Hargood
	💍 1902/6087
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial	Traveller, Domestic Duties
Age	23 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 weeks	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Timaru
Folio	02/5853
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 November 1902
Officiating Minister	Alex Montgomery, Registrar

20 November 1902

Arthur William Hutson
Jessie Jane Martin

Arthur William Dutson
Jessie Jane Martin
💍 1902/5924

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Housekeeper

38 years
37 years

St. Andrews
St. Andrews

13 years
18 months

Presbyterian Church, St. Andrews

02/5865

20 November 1902

Rev. H. S. Laurie, Presbyterian Minister

No	68
Date of Notice	20 November 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur William Hutson	Jessie Jane Martin
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur William Dutson	Jessie Jane Martin
	💍 1902/5924
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Housekeeper
Age	38 years	37 years
Dwelling Place	St. Andrews	St. Andrews
Length of Residence	13 years	18 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, St. Andrews
Folio	02/5865
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 November 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. S. Laurie, Presbyterian Minister

1 December 1902

Frederick Edward Malcolmson
Jean Clark

Frederick Edward Malcolmson
Jean Clarke
💍 1902/6092

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler
Domestic Duties

26 years
21 years

Timaru
Timaru

26 years
8 years

Dwellinghouse of D. Watson, High Street, Timaru

02/5857

1 December 1902

Rev. Robert Jackson, Presbyterian Minister

No	69
Date of Notice	1 December 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Edward Malcolmson	Jean Clark
BDM Match (95%)	Frederick Edward Malcolmson	Jean Clarke
	💍 1902/6092
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler	Domestic Duties
Age	26 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	26 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of D. Watson, High Street, Timaru
Folio	02/5857
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 December 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert Jackson, Presbyterian Minister

2 December 1902

William James Osborne Stonehouse
Margaret Mary Cecily O'Brien

William James Osborne Stonehouse
Margaret Mary Cecilia OBrien
💍 1902/5925

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper's Assistant
Domestic Duties

33 years
22 years

Timaru
Timaru

12 years
3 years

Catholic Priory, Timaru

02/5866

2 December 1902

Rev. John Sulman, Roman Catholic Priest

No	70
Date of Notice	2 December 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Osborne Stonehouse	Margaret Mary Cecily O'Brien
BDM Match (95%)	William James Osborne Stonehouse	Margaret Mary Cecilia OBrien
	💍 1902/5925
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper's Assistant	Domestic Duties
Age	33 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	12 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Priory, Timaru
Folio	02/5866
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 December 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Sulman, Roman Catholic Priest

5 December 1902

Henry Berry
Eva White

Henry Berry
Eva White
💍 1902/5921

Widower
Spinster

Master Plasterer
Domestic Duties

45 years
29 years

Timaru
Geraldine

3 years
2 weeks

Wesleyan Church, Timaru, Geraldine

02/5862

5 December 1902

Rev. J. Newman Buttle, Wesleyan Minister

No	71
Date of Notice	5 December 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Berry	Eva White
	💍 1902/5921
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Master Plasterer	Domestic Duties
Age	45 years	29 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Geraldine
Length of Residence	3 years	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Timaru, Geraldine
Folio	02/5862
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 December 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Newman Buttle, Wesleyan Minister

8 December 1902

Alexander Finnie
Ada Waters

Alexander Finnie
Ada Waters
💍 1902/6093

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic Servant

25 years
20 years

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
6 weeks

Dwellinghouse of John Finnie, King Street, Timaru

02/5858

Edward Waters, father

8 December 1902

Rev. Robert Jackson, Presbyterian Minister

No	72
Date of Notice	8 December 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Finnie	Ada Waters
	💍 1902/6093
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic Servant
Age	25 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of John Finnie, King Street, Timaru
Folio	02/5858
Consent	Edward Waters, father
Date of Certificate	8 December 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert Jackson, Presbyterian Minister

9 December 1902

Frederick Robert Flatman
Elizabeth Stack

Frederick Robert Flatman
Elizabeth Stack
💍 1902/5926

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

30 years
31 years

Woodbury
Fairview

30 years
29 years

Dwellinghouse of Maurice Stack, Fairview, Geraldine

02/5867

9 December 1902

Rev. William Gillies, Presbyterian Minister

No	73
Date of Notice	9 December 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Robert Flatman	Elizabeth Stack
	💍 1902/5926
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	30 years	31 years
Dwelling Place	Woodbury	Fairview
Length of Residence	30 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of Maurice Stack, Fairview, Geraldine
Folio	02/5867
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 December 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Gillies, Presbyterian Minister

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).