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 400

District of Pahiatua Quarter ending 30 June 1902 Registrar William Thompson

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

5 April 1902

Leonard Andrews
Kathleen Ethel Osborne

Leonard Andrews
Kathleen Ethel O'Brien
💍 1902/3222

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

25 years
23 years

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

6 months
23 years

House of Mr O'Brien, Pahiatua

02/2707

5 April 1902

Rev. P. Cooney, Roman Catholic Minister

No	7
Date of Notice	5 April 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Andrews	Kathleen Ethel Osborne
BDM Match (89%)	Leonard Andrews	Kathleen Ethel O'Brien
	💍 1902/3222
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	25 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	6 months	23 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr O'Brien, Pahiatua
Folio	02/2707
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 April 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Cooney, Roman Catholic Minister

14 April 1902

Charles Edward Shepheard
Edith Alice Sutton

Charles Edward Shepheard
Edith Alice Sutton
💍 1902/4886

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Dressmaker

28 years
25 years

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

15 years
20 years

Holy Trinity Church, Pahiatua

02/4636

14 April 1902

Rev. C. Crater, Anglican Minister

No	8
Date of Notice	14 April 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edward Shepheard	Edith Alice Sutton
	💍 1902/4886
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Dressmaker
Age	28 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	15 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Pahiatua
Folio	02/4636
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Crater, Anglican Minister

18 April 1902

Charles George Curtis
Rosa Wilson

Charles George Curtis
Rosa Wilson
💍 1902/3211

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

26 years
24 years

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

25 years
24 years

St. Saviours Church, Pahiatua

02/2706

18 April 1902

R. E. Edsel Chambers, Anglican Minister

No	9
Date of Notice	18 April 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles George Curtis	Rosa Wilson
	💍 1902/3211
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	26 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	25 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Saviours Church, Pahiatua
Folio	02/2706
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 April 1902
Officiating Minister	R. E. Edsel Chambers, Anglican Minister

13 May 1902

Roderick Gallagher
Julia Simcock

Roderick Gallagher
Julia Simotich
💍 1902/3228

Widower
Widow

Dairyman
Housekeeper

57 years
58 years

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

28 years
30 years

St. Josephs Church, Pahiatua

02/2708

13 May 1902

Rev. P. Cooney, Roman Catholic Minister

No	10
Date of Notice	13 May 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roderick Gallagher	Julia Simcock
BDM Match (86%)	Roderick Gallagher	Julia Simotich
	💍 1902/3228
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Dairyman	Housekeeper
Age	57 years	58 years
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	28 years	30 years
Marriage Place	St. Josephs Church, Pahiatua
Folio	02/2708
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Cooney, Roman Catholic Minister

14 May 1902

Joseph McLean
Annie Frances Procter

Joseph McLean
Annie Frances Trotter
💍 1902/2928

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

30 years
24 years

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

14 days
2 months

House of the McLean, Pahiatua

02/2705

14 May 1902

Rev. A. H. Dreadwell, Presbyterian Minister

No	11
Date of Notice	14 May 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph McLean	Annie Frances Procter
BDM Match (95%)	Joseph McLean	Annie Frances Trotter
	💍 1902/2928
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	30 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	14 days	2 months
Marriage Place	House of the McLean, Pahiatua
Folio	02/2705
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 May 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Dreadwell, Presbyterian Minister

19 May 1902

Ernest Voight
Jane Stevenson Peebles

Ernest Voight
Jane Stevenson Peebles
💍 1902/4593

Bachelor
Divorced

Labourer
Housewife (since 7 Sept 1901)

30 years
27 years

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

2 years
2 years

Wesleyan Parsonage, Pahiatua

02/4404

19 May 1902

Rev. J. J. Tylee, Wesleyan Minister

No	12
Date of Notice	19 May 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Voight	Jane Stevenson Peebles
	💍 1902/4593
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced
Profession	Labourer	Housewife (since 7 Sept 1901)
Age	30 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Parsonage, Pahiatua
Folio	02/4404
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 May 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Tylee, Wesleyan Minister

11 June 1902

John Francis Cooney
Sarah Burnford

John Francis Cooney
Sarah Bamford
💍 1902/3229

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28 years
26 years

Govenor's Bay
Govenor's Bay

4 years
26 years

St. Josephs Church, Pahiatua

02/2709

11 June 1902

Rev. P. Cooney, Roman Catholic Minister

No	13
Date of Notice	11 June 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Francis Cooney	Sarah Burnford
BDM Match (89%)	John Francis Cooney	Sarah Bamford
	💍 1902/3229
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Govenor's Bay	Govenor's Bay
Length of Residence	4 years	26 years
Marriage Place	St. Josephs Church, Pahiatua
Folio	02/2709
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 June 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Cooney, Roman Catholic Minister

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).