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 159

District of Waimangaroa Quarter ending 31 March 1902 Registrar H.A. Richards

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

20 January 1902

Thomas Leach
Elizabeth Blanche Badley

Thomas Leach
Elizabeth Blanche Badley
💍 1902/778

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

25
22

Denniston
Denniston

17 years
1 week

Methodist Church, Denniston

02/887

20 January 1902

Adjutant John Ward, Salvation Army

No	1
Date of Notice	20 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Leach	Elizabeth Blanche Badley
	💍 1902/778
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Denniston	Denniston
Length of Residence	17 years	1 week
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Denniston
Folio	02/887
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Adjutant John Ward, Salvation Army

25 January 1902

John William Robinson
Sarah Ann Rees

John William Robinson
Sarah Ann Rees
💍 1902/709

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

19
18

Burnetts Face
Burnetts Face

12 years
7 years

Registrar's Office, Waimangaroa

02/884

Catherine Ann Rees, Mother

25 January 1902

H.A. Richards, Registrar

No	2
Date of Notice	25 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Robinson	Sarah Ann Rees
	💍 1902/709
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	19	18
Dwelling Place	Burnetts Face	Burnetts Face
Length of Residence	12 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Waimangaroa
Folio	02/884
Consent	Catherine Ann Rees, Mother
Date of Certificate	25 January 1902
Officiating Minister	H.A. Richards, Registrar

30 January 1902

Robert Brown
Ida Laura Bradbury

Robert Brown
Ida Laura Bradbury
💍 1902/784

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper

27
32

Denniston
Denniston

1 year
3 days

Town Hall, Denniston

02/888

30 January 1902

Adjutant J. Ward, Salvation Army

No	3
Date of Notice	30 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Brown	Ida Laura Bradbury
	💍 1902/784
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	27	32
Dwelling Place	Denniston	Denniston
Length of Residence	1 year	3 days
Marriage Place	Town Hall, Denniston
Folio	02/888
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Adjutant J. Ward, Salvation Army

19 February 1902

Walter Witham
Mary Hawthorn Niven

Walter Witham
Mary H Niven
💍 1902/785

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

28
24

Reardonville
Mokihinui

3 days
8 years

At the Residence of G. Niven, Mokihinui

02/889

19 February 1902

Rev. John Hall, Presby. Minister

No	4
Date of Notice	19 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Witham	Mary Hawthorn Niven
BDM Match (82%)	Walter Witham	Mary H Niven
	💍 1902/785
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Reardonville	Mokihinui
Length of Residence	3 days	8 years
Marriage Place	At the Residence of G. Niven, Mokihinui
Folio	02/889
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Hall, Presby. Minister

22 March 1902

George William Jefferson
Ellen May Graham

George William Pattison
Ellen May Graham
💍 1902/1728

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

25
24

Denniston
Denniston

1 year
2 months

Church of England, Denniston

02/2485

22 March 1902

Rev. C.J. Smith, Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	22 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Jefferson	Ellen May Graham
BDM Match (88%)	George William Pattison	Ellen May Graham
	💍 1902/1728
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Denniston	Denniston
Length of Residence	1 year	2 months
Marriage Place	Church of England, Denniston
Folio	02/2485
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. C.J. Smith, Church of England

29 March 1902

Isaac Lees
Clara Thomas

Isaac Lees
Clara Thomas
💍 1902/767

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

32
21

Millerton
Denniston

3 months
12 years

At the Residence of W.A. Ageddin, Denniston

02/886

29 March 1902

Rev. C.J. Smith, Church of England

No	6
Date of Notice	29 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Isaac Lees	Clara Thomas
	💍 1902/767
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Millerton	Denniston
Length of Residence	3 months	12 years
Marriage Place	At the Residence of W.A. Ageddin, Denniston
Folio	02/886
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. C.J. Smith, Church of England

29 March 1902

John Henry Duffy
Elizabeth Kennedy

John Henry Dufty
Elizabeth Kennedy
💍 1902/710

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

22
18

Millerton
Millerton

6 months
6 months

Registrar's Office, Waimangaroa

02/885

Edward Kennedy, Father

29 March 1902

H.A. Richards, Registrar

No	7
Date of Notice	29 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Duffy	Elizabeth Kennedy
BDM Match (97%)	John Henry Dufty	Elizabeth Kennedy
	💍 1902/710
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Millerton	Millerton
Length of Residence	6 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Waimangaroa
Folio	02/885
Consent	Edward Kennedy, Father
Date of Certificate	29 March 1902
Officiating Minister	H.A. Richards, 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).