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 145

District of Reefton Quarter ending 30 June 1902 Registrar Axel Astenbeart

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

7 April 1902

Roland Haste
Elizabeth Florence Feary

Roland Haste
Elizabeth Florence Feary
💍 1902/1748

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

21
20

Reefton
Reefton

3 months
7 days

The office of the Registrar of Marriages Reefton

02/2401

Harry Feary (father)

9 April 1902

Henry Smith, Deputy Registrar

No	9
Date of Notice	7 April 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roland Haste	Elizabeth Florence Feary
	💍 1902/1748
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Reefton
Length of Residence	3 months	7 days
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages Reefton
Folio	02/2401
Consent	Harry Feary (father)
Date of Certificate	9 April 1902
Officiating Minister	Henry Smith, Deputy Registrar

18 April 1902

John Knight
Maggie Coll

John Knight
Maggie Coll
💍 1902/1751

Bachelor
Spinster

Amalgamator
Domestic

33
24

Black's Point
Cronadun

25 years
7 months

The office of the Registrar of Marriages Reefton

02/2402

21 April 1902

Henry Smith, Deputy Registrar

No	10
Date of Notice	18 April 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Knight	Maggie Coll
	💍 1902/1751
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Amalgamator	Domestic
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	Black's Point	Cronadun
Length of Residence	25 years	7 months
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages Reefton
Folio	02/2402
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 April 1902
Officiating Minister	Henry Smith, Deputy Registrar

18 April 1902

Thomas Gold Gilroy
Catherine Moore

Thomas Gold Gilroy
Catherine Gertrude Moore
💍 1902/1755

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

24
21

Reefton
Reefton

3 years
21 years

The residence of Timothy Moore, Walsh Street, Reefton

02/2406

18 April 1902

Rev. James Hickson

No	11
Date of Notice	18 April 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Gold Gilroy	Catherine Moore
BDM Match (81%)	Thomas Gold Gilroy	Catherine Gertrude Moore
	💍 1902/1755
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Reefton
Length of Residence	3 years	21 years
Marriage Place	The residence of Timothy Moore, Walsh Street, Reefton
Folio	02/2406
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 April 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Hickson

21 April 1902

George Wildermoth
Eliza Ann Ellis

George Wildermoth
Eliza Ann Ellis
💍 1902/1753

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

27
24

Reefton
Reefton

4 years
24 years

The residence of Thomas Ellis, Reefton

02/2404

21 April 1902

Rev. William Grigg

No	12
Date of Notice	21 April 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Wildermoth	Eliza Ann Ellis
	💍 1902/1753
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Reefton
Length of Residence	4 years	24 years
Marriage Place	The residence of Thomas Ellis, Reefton
Folio	02/2404
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 April 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Grigg

28 April 1902

Joseph Pryor
Grace Williams Wearne

Joseph Pryor
Grace Williams Wearne
💍 1902/1754

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

26
22

Reefton
Black's Point

3 days
22 years

The Wesleyan Church, Black's Point

02/2405

28 April 1902

Rev. Wm Grigg

No	13
Date of Notice	28 April 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Pryor	Grace Williams Wearne
	💍 1902/1754
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Black's Point
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	The Wesleyan Church, Black's Point
Folio	02/2405
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Grigg

28 April 1902

David William Robertson
Mary Monica McKinley

David William Robertson
Monica Mary McKinley
💍 1902/1756

Bachelor
Spinster

Coachdriver
Domestic

27
22

Reefton
Cronadun

4 years
3 years

The residence of John Gallagher, Cronadun

02/2407

28 April 1902

Rev. James Hickson

No	14
Date of Notice	28 April 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David William Robertson	Mary Monica McKinley
BDM Match (75%)	David William Robertson	Monica Mary McKinley
	💍 1902/1756
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coachdriver	Domestic
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Cronadun
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	The residence of John Gallagher, Cronadun
Folio	02/2407
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Hickson

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).