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 212

District of Kumara Quarter ending 30 June 1902 Registrar Theodore Minet Sawlor

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

Alexander James Aitken
Mary Jane Peters

Alexander James Aitken
Mary Jane Peters
💍 1902/4211

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairyman
Domestic Duties

23
26

Kumara
Kumara

18 months
15 years

Wesleyan Church or Kumara

02/3927

7 April 1902

Rev. James Richard Clarke

No	4
Date of Notice	7 April 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander James Aitken	Mary Jane Peters
	💍 1902/4211
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairyman	Domestic Duties
Age	23	26
Dwelling Place	Kumara	Kumara
Length of Residence	18 months	15 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church or Kumara
Folio	02/3927
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Richard Clarke

28 April 1902

Thomas Patrick Tracey
Ellen May Finman

Thomas Patrick Tracey
Ellen Mary Firmin
💍 1902/4212

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Dressmaker

28
29

Kumara
Kumara

3 days
15 years

Roman Catholic Chapel at Kumara

02/3928

28 April 1902

Rev. Daniel J. O'Hallahan

No	5
Date of Notice	28 April 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Patrick Tracey	Ellen May Finman
BDM Match (91%)	Thomas Patrick Tracey	Ellen Mary Firmin
	💍 1902/4212
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Kumara	Kumara
Length of Residence	3 days	15 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel at Kumara
Folio	02/3928
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Daniel J. O'Hallahan

28 April 1902

Robert Donaldson
Emily Laurence

Robert Donaldson
Emily Laurence
💍 1902/4213

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller
Domestic duties

31
23

Kumara Junction
Westbrook

8 years
23 years

Roman Catholic Church at Kumara

02/3929

28 April 1902

Rev. Daniel J. O'Hallahan

No	6
Date of Notice	28 April 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Donaldson	Emily Laurence
	💍 1902/4213
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller	Domestic duties
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Kumara Junction	Westbrook
Length of Residence	8 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church at Kumara
Folio	02/3929
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Daniel J. O'Hallahan

11 June 1902

Alfred John Thom
Edith Ellen Maude Barrett

Alfred John Thorn
Edith Ellen Maud Barrett
💍 1902/1763

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

31
20

Kumara
Kumara

21 years
20 years

Church of England at Kumara

02/2449

Fanny Barrett, Mother, a Widow

11 June 1902

Rev. Henry Montague Smyth MA

No	7
Date of Notice	11 June 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred John Thom	Edith Ellen Maude Barrett
BDM Match (92%)	Alfred John Thorn	Edith Ellen Maud Barrett
	💍 1902/1763
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	31	20
Dwelling Place	Kumara	Kumara
Length of Residence	21 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Church of England at Kumara
Folio	02/2449
Consent	Fanny Barrett, Mother, a Widow
Date of Certificate	11 June 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Henry Montague Smyth MA

18 June 1902

William Edward Scott
Agnes Isabella Kean

William Edward Scott
Agnes Isobella Kean
💍 1902/1764

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

34
24

Greenstone
Greenstone

4 months
14 years

Mr. W. E. Kean's Residence

02/2450

18 June 1902

Rev. Henry Montague Smyth MA

No	8
Date of Notice	18 June 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edward Scott	Agnes Isabella Kean
BDM Match (97%)	William Edward Scott	Agnes Isobella Kean
	💍 1902/1764
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Greenstone	Greenstone
Length of Residence	4 months	14 years
Marriage Place	Mr. W. E. Kean's Residence
Folio	02/2450
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 June 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Henry Montague Smyth MA

24 June 1902

Henry Arnold Thompson
Mary Maria Preston

Henry Arnold Thompson
Mary Maria Preston
💍 1902/1765

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Home Keeper

28
29

Kumara
Kumara

3 days
5 days

Presbyterian Church at Kumara

02/2451

Rev. Neil McCallum

No	9
Date of Notice	24 June 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Arnold Thompson	Mary Maria Preston
	💍 1902/1765
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Home Keeper
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Kumara	Kumara
Length of Residence	3 days	5 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church at Kumara
Folio	02/2451
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. Neil McCallum

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).