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 258

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1902 Registrar L. C. Williams

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

18 January 1902

Robert Stuart Nixon
Grace Amelia Ball

Robert Stuart Nixon
Grace Amelia Ball
💍 1902/873

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Hand

29
28

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
14 days

Residence of S. D'Authreau, 112 [illegible] Bell, Christchurch

02/1082

18 January 1902

Rev. C. H. Laws

No	32
Date of Notice	18 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Stuart Nixon	Grace Amelia Ball
	💍 1902/873
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Hand
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	14 days
Marriage Place	Residence of S. D'Authreau, 112 [illegible] Bell, Christchurch
Folio	02/1082
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Laws

18 January 1902

John Bates
Johanna Donald

John Bates
Johanna McDonald
💍 1902/962

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer

31
32

Christchurch
Christchurch

30 years
30 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

02/953

18 January 1902

Registrar

No	33
Date of Notice	18 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Bates	Johanna Donald
BDM Match (94%)	John Bates	Johanna McDonald
	💍 1902/962
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer
Age	31	32
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	30 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	02/953
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Registrar

20 January 1902

Henry Johnstone Barker
Nellie Eleanor Webb

Henry Johnstone Baker
Nellie Eleanor Webb
💍 1902/851

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

22
19

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
7 years

Residence of Mr. H. Webb, 205 Barbadoes Street, Christchurch

02/1060

Henry Webb, father

20 January 1902

Rev. W. Baumber

No	34
Date of Notice	20 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Johnstone Barker	Nellie Eleanor Webb
BDM Match (98%)	Henry Johnstone Baker	Nellie Eleanor Webb
	💍 1902/851
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. H. Webb, 205 Barbadoes Street, Christchurch
Folio	02/1060
Consent	Henry Webb, father
Date of Certificate	20 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Baumber

20 January 1902

Frank Salt
Sarah Agnes Mulhern

Frank Salt
Sarah Agnes Mary Mulhern
💍 1902/848

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

Roman Catholic Pro-Cathedral, Christchurch

02/1057

20 January 1902

Rev. R. Richards

No	35
Date of Notice	20 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Salt	Sarah Agnes Mulhern
BDM Match (90%)	Frank Salt	Sarah Agnes Mary Mulhern
	💍 1902/848
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Pro-Cathedral, Christchurch
Folio	02/1057
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Richards

20 January 1902

Peter Cullinane
Catherine Ann McDonald

Peter Cullinan
Catherine Ann McDonald
💍 1902/4308

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

36
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

9 months
20 years

Roman Catholic Pro-Cathedral, Christchurch

02/4116

20 January 1902

Rev. H. McDonald

No	36
Date of Notice	20 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Cullinane	Catherine Ann McDonald
BDM Match (97%)	Peter Cullinan	Catherine Ann McDonald
	💍 1902/4308
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	36	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	9 months	20 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Pro-Cathedral, Christchurch
Folio	02/4116
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. McDonald

20 January 1902

George James Cruickshank Smart
May Florence Burt

George James Cruickshank Smart
May Florence Burt
💍 1902/950

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Clerk

34
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

20 years
3 years

St. Michael's Church, Christchurch

02/1004

20 January 1902

Rev. J. A. Julius

No	37
Date of Notice	20 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George James Cruickshank Smart	May Florence Burt
	💍 1902/950
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Clerk
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	20 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Michael's Church, Christchurch
Folio	02/1004
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Julius

21 January 1902

John Colville
Agnes Louisa Albertina Schwartz

John Colville
Agnes Louisa Albertina Schwartz
💍 1902/1065

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

23
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 years
24 years

St. Mary's Church, Addington

02/978

21 January 1902

Rev. W. S. Bean

No	38
Date of Notice	21 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Colville	Agnes Louisa Albertina Schwartz
	💍 1902/1065
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	23	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Addington
Folio	02/978
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bean

22 January 1902

William Ernest Clarke
Violet Allan

William Ernest Clarke
Violet Allen
💍 1902/836

Bachelor
Spinster

Shop Assistant

26
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
24 years

St. Luke's Church, Christchurch

02/1015

22 January 1902

Rev. W. S. Bean

No	39
Date of Notice	22 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Ernest Clarke	Violet Allan
BDM Match (96%)	William Ernest Clarke	Violet Allen
	💍 1902/836
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shop Assistant
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Christchurch
Folio	02/1015
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bean

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).