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 257

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1902 Registrar L. C. Hilliand

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

15 January 1902

Martin Joseph Hartigan
Lillias Troup Toad

Martin Joseph Hartigan
Lillias Troup Todd
💍 1902/849

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 months
6 months

Roman Catholic Church

02/1058

15 January 1902

Rev. R. Richards

No	24
Date of Notice	15 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Joseph Hartigan	Lillias Troup Toad
BDM Match (97%)	Martin Joseph Hartigan	Lillias Troup Todd
	💍 1902/849
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	02/1058
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Richards

15 January 1902

John William Lisle
Sadie Barker

John William Lisle
Sadie Daken
💍 1902/861

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

30
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

20 years
4 months

Wesleyan Parsonage

02/1071

15 January 1902

Rev. W. Lee

No	25
Date of Notice	15 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Lisle	Sadie Barker
BDM Match (88%)	John William Lisle	Sadie Daken
	💍 1902/861
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	20 years	4 months
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Parsonage
Folio	02/1071
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Lee

15 January 1902

Patrick Joseph Rowley
Jessie Rosina Purse

Patrick Joseph Gourley
Jessie Rosina Purse
💍 1902/4309

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

27
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 months
21 years

Roman Catholic Church

02/1117

15 January 1902

Rev. J. Foley

No	26
Date of Notice	15 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Joseph Rowley	Jessie Rosina Purse
BDM Match (93%)	Patrick Joseph Gourley	Jessie Rosina Purse
	💍 1902/4309
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 months	21 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	02/1117
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Foley

16 January 1902

James William Hughes
Eliza Jane Simpson

James William Hughes
Eliza Jane Simpson
💍 1902/1071

Bachelor
Spinster

Boilermaker

28
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 years
2 years

St. John's Church

02/984

William Henry Simpson, father

16 January 1902

Rev. S. E. Stilling

No	27
Date of Notice	16 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James William Hughes	Eliza Jane Simpson
	💍 1902/1071
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boilermaker
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church
Folio	02/984
Consent	William Henry Simpson, father
Date of Certificate	16 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. E. Stilling

16 January 1902

George Williamson Haydon
Anne Elizabeth Lynn

George Williamson Haydon
Anne Elizabeth Lynn
💍 1902/960

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper

24
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 months
4 days

Registrar's Office

02/951

16 January 1902

Registrar, Christchurch

No	28
Date of Notice	16 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Williamson Haydon	Anne Elizabeth Lynn
	💍 1902/960
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 months	4 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	02/951
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Registrar, Christchurch

16 January 1902

Isaac Henderson Heyward
Helen Chaplin

Isaac Henderson Heyward
Helen Chaplin
💍 1902/819

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

25
23

Addington
Templeton

3 years
23 months

St. Saviour's Church

02/1022

16 January 1902

Rev. R. Blackburn

No	29
Date of Notice	16 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Isaac Henderson Heyward	Helen Chaplin
	💍 1902/819
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Addington	Templeton
Length of Residence	3 years	23 months
Marriage Place	St. Saviour's Church
Folio	02/1022
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Blackburn

16 January 1902

William Henry Joyce
Edith O'Callaghan

William Henry Joyce
Edith O'Callaghan
💍 1902/840

Bachelor
Spinster

Bookkeeper

27
29

Spreydon
Christchurch

1 month
2 years

Church of England

02/1019

16 January 1902

Rev. J. Hamilton

No	30
Date of Notice	16 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Joyce	Edith O'Callaghan
	💍 1902/840
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bookkeeper
Age	27	29
Dwelling Place	Spreydon	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 month	2 years
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	02/1019
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Hamilton

17 January 1902

John Laurence Forde
Rosina Clara Cook

John Lawrence Forde
Rosina Clark
💍 1902/961

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootfinisher
Cook

25
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 years
22 months

Registrar's Office

02/952

17 January 1902

Registrar, Christchurch

No	31
Date of Notice	17 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Laurence Forde	Rosina Clara Cook
BDM Match (83%)	John Lawrence Forde	Rosina Clark
	💍 1902/961
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootfinisher	Cook
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years	22 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	02/952
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Registrar, Christchurch

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).