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 026

District of Wairau Quarter ending 31 March 1902 Registrar Henry Arthur Jackman

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 February 1902

Harry Arthur Laker
Mary McDonald

Harry Arthur Laker
Mary McDonald
💍 1902/2709

Bachelor
Spinster

Plasterer

39
35

Blenheim
Blenheim

4 months
35 Years

Blenheim

02/822

15 February 1902

Rev. W. O. Robb

No	8
Date of Notice	15 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Arthur Laker	Mary McDonald
	💍 1902/2709
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plasterer
Age	39	35
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	4 months	35 Years
Marriage Place	Blenheim
Folio	02/822
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb

3 March 1902

Walter Henry Bell
Eliza Day

Walter Henry Bell
Eliza Day
💍 1902/2711

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

22
21

Blenheim
Blenheim

22 Years
21 Years

Blenheim

02/824

3 March 1902

Rev. G. W. J. Spence

No	9
Date of Notice	3 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Henry Bell	Eliza Day
	💍 1902/2711
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	22 Years	21 Years
Marriage Place	Blenheim
Folio	02/824
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. J. Spence

11 March 1902

Donald McCallum
Ann White

Donald McCallum
Ann White
💍 1902/2712

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
22

Blenheim
Onamulutu

26 Years
20 Years

Onamulutu, Wairau

02/825

11 March 1902

Rev. G. N. J. Spence

No	10
Date of Notice	11 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald McCallum	Ann White
	💍 1902/2712
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Onamulutu
Length of Residence	26 Years	20 Years
Marriage Place	Onamulutu, Wairau
Folio	02/825
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. N. J. Spence

18 March 1902

Harry Loman Beauchamp
Kate Mills

Harry Lomax Beauchamp
Kate Mills
💍 1902/2704

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
30

Blenheim
Blenheim

3 days
7 Days

Blenheim

02/828

18 March 1902

Rev. T. S. Grace

No	11
Date of Notice	18 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Loman Beauchamp	Kate Mills
BDM Match (98%)	Harry Lomax Beauchamp	Kate Mills
	💍 1902/2704
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	30
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	3 days	7 Days
Marriage Place	Blenheim
Folio	02/828
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. S. Grace

18 March 1902

Thomas Jacques
Mary Elinor Kellor

Thomas Jaques
Mary Eleanor Kellor
💍 1902/2710

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

38
28

Kaituna
Kaituna

27 Years
14 days

Kaituna

02/823

18 March 1902

Rev. H. W. Howell

No	12
Date of Notice	18 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Jacques	Mary Elinor Kellor
BDM Match (91%)	Thomas Jaques	Mary Eleanor Kellor
	💍 1902/2710
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	38	28
Dwelling Place	Kaituna	Kaituna
Length of Residence	27 Years	14 days
Marriage Place	Kaituna
Folio	02/823
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. Howell

19 March 1902

Francis Heal
Lucy Allport

Francis Neal
Lucy Allport
💍 1902/3161

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

30
19

Spring Creek
Spring Creek

30 Years
19 Years

Marshlands

02/826

Thomas Allport, Father

19 March 1902

Rev. E. H. Ensor

No	13
Date of Notice	19 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Heal	Lucy Allport
BDM Match (96%)	Francis Neal	Lucy Allport
	💍 1902/3161
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	30	19
Dwelling Place	Spring Creek	Spring Creek
Length of Residence	30 Years	19 Years
Marriage Place	Marshlands
Folio	02/826
Consent	Thomas Allport, Father
Date of Certificate	19 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. H. Ensor

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).