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 146

District of Reefton Quarter ending 30 June 1902 Registrar A. A. Astenbeet

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

23 May 1902

Albert Stillman
Florence Seaber King

Albert Stillman
Florence Seabea King
💍 1902/1758

Bachelor
Widow

Miner
Domestic

30
43

Reefton
Reefton

3 months
5 years

Church of England, Parsonage, Reefton

02/2409

23 May 1902

Rev. Herbert J. York

No	15
Date of Notice	23 May 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Stillman	Florence Seaber King
BDM Match (98%)	Albert Stillman	Florence Seabea King
	💍 1902/1758
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	30	43
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Reefton
Length of Residence	3 months	5 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Parsonage, Reefton
Folio	02/2409
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 May 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Herbert J. York

23 May 1902

Valentine Henderson Paice
Alice Brown

Valentine Henderson Paice
Alice Brown
💍 1902/1749

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic

23
22

Reefton
Reefton

5 months
3 weeks

The residence of Richard Scottoch, Reefton

02/2410

23 May 1902

Rev. Herbert J. York

No	16
Date of Notice	23 May 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Valentine Henderson Paice	Alice Brown
	💍 1902/1749
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Reefton
Length of Residence	5 months	3 weeks
Marriage Place	The residence of Richard Scottoch, Reefton
Folio	02/2410
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 May 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Herbert J. York

5 June 1902

Charles Albert Howard
Helen Martha Davidson

Charles Albert Howard
Helen Martha Davidson
💍 1902/1723

Widower
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

29
19

Reefton
Reefton

3 months
19 years

The residence of John Davidson, Buller Road, Reefton

02/2411

John Davidson (father)

5 June 1902

Rev. Herbert J. York

No	17
Date of Notice	5 June 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Albert Howard	Helen Martha Davidson
	💍 1902/1723
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	29	19
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Reefton
Length of Residence	3 months	19 years
Marriage Place	The residence of John Davidson, Buller Road, Reefton
Folio	02/2411
Consent	John Davidson (father)
Date of Certificate	5 June 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Herbert J. York

9 June 1902

Andrew Douglas
Mary Brazie

Andrew Douglas
Mary Brazil
💍 1902/1757

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

22
24

Reefton
Cronadun

6 months
24 years

The residence of John Brazil

02/2408

9 June 1902

Very Rev. J. B. L. Rolland (Dean)

No	18
Date of Notice	9 June 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Douglas	Mary Brazie
BDM Match (95%)	Andrew Douglas	Mary Brazil
	💍 1902/1757
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Cronadun
Length of Residence	6 months	24 years
Marriage Place	The residence of John Brazil
Folio	02/2408
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 June 1902
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. J. B. L. Rolland (Dean)

9 June 1902

Walter Cressey
Elizabeth Sutherland

Walter Cressey
Elizabeth Sutherland
💍 1902/1750

Bachelor
Spinster

Machinist
Domestic

28
20

Rainy Creek
Reefton

5 years
19 years

St. Stephen's Church

02/2411

Benjamin Sutherland (father)

9 June 1902

Rev. Herbert J. York

No	19
Date of Notice	9 June 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Cressey	Elizabeth Sutherland
	💍 1902/1750
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Machinist	Domestic
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Rainy Creek	Reefton
Length of Residence	5 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St. Stephen's Church
Folio	02/2411
Consent	Benjamin Sutherland (father)
Date of Certificate	9 June 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Herbert J. York

10 June 1902

Herbert Swain
Faith Sifford

Herbert Swain
Faith Gifford
💍 1902/1752

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

21
24

Inangahua Junction
Progress Junction

1 month
8 months

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Reefton

02/2403

10 June 1902

A. A. Astenbeet, Registrar

No	20
Date of Notice	10 June 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Swain	Faith Sifford
BDM Match (96%)	Herbert Swain	Faith Gifford
	💍 1902/1752
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	21	24
Dwelling Place	Inangahua Junction	Progress Junction
Length of Residence	1 month	8 months
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Reefton
Folio	02/2403
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1902
Officiating Minister	A. A. Astenbeet, Registrar

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).