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 143

District of Reefton Quarter ending 31 March 1902 Registrar Axel Astenbeek

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

6 January 1902

John Henry Clark
Emily Maud Taylor

John Henry Clark
Emily Maud Taylor
💍 1902/699

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

32
27

Reefton
Black's Point

10 days
11 years

The residence of Mr Thomas Taylor at Black's Point

02/875

6 January 1902

Rev. Herbert J. York

No	1
Date of Notice	6 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Clark	Emily Maud Taylor
	💍 1902/699
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	32	27
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Black's Point
Length of Residence	10 days	11 years
Marriage Place	The residence of Mr Thomas Taylor at Black's Point
Folio	02/875
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Herbert J. York

13 January 1902

Charles Dobson
Margaret Maud Hocking

Charles Dobson
Margaret Maud Hocking
💍 1902/702

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

22
20

Black's Point
Black's Point

20 years
2 years

Wesleyan Church, Black's Point

02/878

Margaret Williams, mother of bride

13 January 1902

Rev. Wm Grigg

No	2
Date of Notice	13 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Dobson	Margaret Maud Hocking
	💍 1902/702
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Black's Point	Black's Point
Length of Residence	20 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Black's Point
Folio	02/878
Consent	Margaret Williams, mother of bride
Date of Certificate	13 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Grigg

20 January 1902

James Simpson
Jessie Mahela Moyle

James Simpson
Jessie Mehllea Moyle
💍 1902/703

Bachelor
Spinster

Hospital Warder
Domestic

26
18

Reefton
Reefton

10 years
12 years

The residence of Mr John Moyle, Reefton

02/879

John Moyle, father of bride

20 January 1902

Rev. Wm Grigg

No	3
Date of Notice	20 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Simpson	Jessie Mahela Moyle
BDM Match (93%)	James Simpson	Jessie Mehllea Moyle
	💍 1902/703
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hospital Warder	Domestic
Age	26	18
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Reefton
Length of Residence	10 years	12 years
Marriage Place	The residence of Mr John Moyle, Reefton
Folio	02/879
Consent	John Moyle, father of bride
Date of Certificate	20 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Grigg

27 January 1902

John Dawson
Bella Adelia Mori

John Dawson
Bella Adelia Mori
💍 1902/704

Widower
Spinster

Hotel Keeper
House Keeper

60
29

Reefton
Reefton

28 years
3 years

Dawsons Hotel, Reefton

02/880

27 January 1902

Rev. Wm Grigg

No	4
Date of Notice	27 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Dawson	Bella Adelia Mori
	💍 1902/704
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Hotel Keeper	House Keeper
Age	60	29
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Reefton
Length of Residence	28 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Dawsons Hotel, Reefton
Folio	02/880
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Grigg

3 February 1902

George Roland Williams
Hannah Louisa Cocks

George Roland Williams
Hannah Louisa Cocks
💍 1902/698

Bachelor
Spinster

Jailor
Domestic

24
26

Reefton
Reefton

5 months
5 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Reefton

02/874

3 February 1902

Axel Astenbeek, Registrar

No	5
Date of Notice	3 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Roland Williams	Hannah Louisa Cocks
	💍 1902/698
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jailor	Domestic
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Reefton
Length of Residence	5 months	5 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Reefton
Folio	02/874
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Axel Astenbeek, Registrar

6 March 1902

William Patterson
Elizabeth Noble

William Patterson
Elizabeth Noble
💍 1902/700

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Domestic

27
24

Reefton
Reefton

27 years
5 years

St Stephen's Church, Reefton

02/876

6 March 1902

Rev. Herbert J. York

No	6
Date of Notice	6 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Patterson	Elizabeth Noble
	💍 1902/700
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Domestic
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Reefton
Length of Residence	27 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St Stephen's Church, Reefton
Folio	02/876
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Herbert J. York

26 March 1902

George Hamilton Woods
Alice Mary Armstrong

George Hamilton Woods
Alice Mary Armstrong
💍 1902/701

Bachelor
Divorced

Miner
Dressmaker

36
39

Globe Hill
Reefton

4 1/2 years
4 years

The residence of the said Alice Mary Armstrong, Reefton

02/877

26 March 1902

Rev. Herbert J. York

No	7
Date of Notice	26 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Hamilton Woods	Alice Mary Armstrong
	💍 1902/701
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced
Profession	Miner	Dressmaker
Age	36	39
Dwelling Place	Globe Hill	Reefton
Length of Residence	4 1/2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	The residence of the said Alice Mary Armstrong, Reefton
Folio	02/877
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Herbert J. York

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).