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 244

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 March 1902 Registrar J. Ward

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

1266

31 December 1901

John Ernest Purchase
Eleanor Dixon

John Ernest Purchase
Eleanor Dixon
💍 1902/1854

Bachelor
Spinster

School Teacher

27
21

Ashburton
Ashburton

21 years
21 years

Wesleyan Church, Ashburton

02/2517

31 December 1901

Rev. Thos. Lee

No	1266
Date of Notice	31 December 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ernest Purchase	Eleanor Dixon
	💍 1902/1854
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School Teacher
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	21 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Ashburton
Folio	02/2517
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 December 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. Lee

1267

13 January 1902

James Cheyne
Jessie Schilling

James Cheyne
Jessie Skilling
💍 1902/744

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

26
22

Ashburton
Ashburton

4 days
22 years

Presbyterian Manse, Inverton, Ashburton

02/946

13 January 1902

Rev. Geo. B. Inglis

No	1267
Date of Notice	13 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Cheyne	Jessie Schilling
BDM Match (94%)	James Cheyne	Jessie Skilling
	💍 1902/744
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	4 days	22 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Inverton, Ashburton
Folio	02/946
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. B. Inglis

1268

16 January 1902

Thomas Francis Eden
Margaret Ann Thompson

Thomas Frances Eden
Margaret Ann Thompson
💍 1902/2095

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

28
24

Ashburton
Ashburton

5 years
5 years

Church of St. Stephen, Ashburton

02/945

16 January 1902

Rev. R. A. Woodthorpe

No	1268
Date of Notice	16 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Francis Eden	Margaret Ann Thompson
BDM Match (97%)	Thomas Frances Eden	Margaret Ann Thompson
	💍 1902/2095
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Church of St. Stephen, Ashburton
Folio	02/945
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. A. Woodthorpe

1269

21 January 1902

James Davidson
Margaret Grace

James Davidson
Margaret Grace
💍 1902/1822

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

21
23

Eiffleton
Winslow

21 years
23 years

Roman Catholic Church at Ashburton

02/2308

21 January 1902

Rev. Dean J. J. O'Donnell

No	1269
Date of Notice	21 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Davidson	Margaret Grace
	💍 1902/1822
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Eiffleton	Winslow
Length of Residence	21 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church at Ashburton
Folio	02/2308
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dean J. J. O'Donnell

1270

23 January 1902

Frederick Ernest Robilliard
Nellie Constance Forks

Frederick Benest Robilliard
Nellie Constance Fooks
💍 1902/762

Bachelor
Spinster

Matchmaker
Music Teacher

28
25

Ashburton
Ashburton

22 years
25 years

Registrar Office, Ashburton

02/940

23 January 1902

J. Ward, Registrar

No	1270
Date of Notice	23 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Ernest Robilliard	Nellie Constance Forks
BDM Match (94%)	Frederick Benest Robilliard	Nellie Constance Fooks
	💍 1902/762
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Matchmaker	Music Teacher
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	22 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Registrar Office, Ashburton
Folio	02/940
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1902
Officiating Minister	J. Ward, Registrar

1271

21 January 1902

Hugh O'Donnell
Ellen Collins

Hugh O'Donnell
Ellen Collins
💍 1902/1823

Bachelor
Spinster

Barman
Domestic Servant

28
28

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 days
3 days

Roman Catholic Church at Ashburton

02/2309

21 January 1902

Rev. Dean J. J. O'Donnell

No	1271
Date of Notice	21 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh O'Donnell	Ellen Collins
	💍 1902/1823
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barman	Domestic Servant
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church at Ashburton
Folio	02/2309
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dean J. J. O'Donnell

1272

25 January 1902

Matthew Crowe
Annie Dineen

Matthew Crowe
Annie Queen
💍 1902/1824

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic Servant

31
29

Westerfield
Ashburton

2 years
10 years

Roman Catholic Church at Ashburton

02/2510

25 January 1902

Rev. Dean J. J. O'Donnell

No	1272
Date of Notice	25 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew Crowe	Annie Dineen
BDM Match (88%)	Matthew Crowe	Annie Queen
	💍 1902/1824
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	31	29
Dwelling Place	Westerfield	Ashburton
Length of Residence	2 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church at Ashburton
Folio	02/2510
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dean J. J. O'Donnell

1273

20 February 1902

John Hepburn
Emily Elizabeth Burness

John Hepburn
Emily Elizabeth Sumners
💍 1902/745

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Servant

23
23

Allenton
Hampstead

6 years
23 years

Private Dwelling of M. Burness, Hampstead

02/947

20 February 1902

Rev. Geo. B. Inglis

No	1273
Date of Notice	20 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hepburn	Emily Elizabeth Burness
BDM Match (94%)	John Hepburn	Emily Elizabeth Sumners
	💍 1902/745
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Servant
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Allenton	Hampstead
Length of Residence	6 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Private Dwelling of M. Burness, Hampstead
Folio	02/947
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. B. Inglis

1274

4 March 1902

William John Thomson
Kate Bulmer

William John Thomson
Kate Bulmer
💍 1902/764

Widower
Spinster

Contractor
Dressmaker

36
25

Winslow
Hinds

12 years
13 years

Church of England, Windermere

02/942

4 March 1902

Rev. E. W. Blakiston

No	1274
Date of Notice	4 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Thomson	Kate Bulmer
	💍 1902/764
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Dressmaker
Age	36	25
Dwelling Place	Winslow	Hinds
Length of Residence	12 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Windermere
Folio	02/942
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. W. Blakiston

1275

18 March 1902

Charles Genet
Annie McGuinness

Charles Henry Genet
Annie McGuinness
💍 1902/1825

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

27
20

Ashburton
Lowcliffe

22 years
4 years

Roman Catholic Church at Ashburton

02/2511

24 March 1902

Rev. Father O'Donnell

No	1275
Date of Notice	18 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Genet	Annie McGuinness
BDM Match (84%)	Charles Henry Genet	Annie McGuinness
	💍 1902/1825
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Lowcliffe
Length of Residence	22 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church at Ashburton
Folio	02/2511
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father O'Donnell

1276

19 March 1902

Alfred Arthur Smith
Olive Madaline Fowke

Alfred Arthur Smith
Olive Madaline Fowke
💍 1902/766

Bachelor
Spinster

Machine Labourer

25
21

Ashburton
Ashburton

5 years
21 years

At the residence of Charles E. Fowke, Natanui Road

02/944

19 March 1902

Rev. R. Raine

No	1276
Date of Notice	19 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Arthur Smith	Olive Madaline Fowke
	💍 1902/766
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Machine Labourer
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	5 years	21 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of Charles E. Fowke, Natanui Road
Folio	02/944
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Raine

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).