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 705

District of East Taieri Quarter ending 30 September 1902 Registrar George Guthrie Harper

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

11 July 1902

Alexander Findlater
Susie Nightingale

Alexander Findlater
Susie Nightingale
💍 1902/4649

Bachelor
Spinster

Groom

26
25

Mosgiel, Otago
Mosgiel, Otago

3 years
3 days

At the house of the Rev. F. W. Boreham, Mosgiel

02/4374

11 July 1902

Rev. Frank William Boreham

No	15
Date of Notice	11 July 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Findlater	Susie Nightingale
	💍 1902/4649
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Groom
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel, Otago	Mosgiel, Otago
Length of Residence	3 years	3 days
Marriage Place	At the house of the Rev. F. W. Boreham, Mosgiel
Folio	02/4374
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Frank William Boreham

11 July 1902

James Blair
Christina Walker

James Blair
Christina Walker
💍 1902/4868

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer

27
29

East Taieri
Burnside

20 years
20 years

At the house of the late John Walker, Burnside

02/4641

11 July 1902

Rev. Dr. M. Watt

No	16
Date of Notice	11 July 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Blair	Christina Walker
	💍 1902/4868
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer
Age	27	29
Dwelling Place	East Taieri	Burnside
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	At the house of the late John Walker, Burnside
Folio	02/4641
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dr. M. Watt

26 July 1902

Peter Bryce
Mary Jane Manderson

Peter Bryce
Mary Jane Manderson
💍 1902/4535

Bachelor
Spinster

Coal Miner

27
19

Mosgiel Junction
Mosgiel, Otago

14 years
14 days

At the house of Francis John Bryce, Mosgiel

02/4375

26 July 1902

Rev. F. W. Boreham

No	17
Date of Notice	26 July 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Bryce	Mary Jane Manderson
	💍 1902/4535
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coal Miner
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel Junction	Mosgiel, Otago
Length of Residence	14 years	14 days
Marriage Place	At the house of Francis John Bryce, Mosgiel
Folio	02/4375
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. W. Boreham

7 August 1902

Henry Guest
Marion Smaillie

Henry Guest
Marion Smaillie
💍 1902/4546

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

23
25

Mosgiel, Otago
Wingatui, Mosgiel

21 years
20 years

At the house of James Harper, Smaillie, Wingatui, Mosgiel

02/4376

7 August 1902

Rev. F. W. Boreham

No	18
Date of Notice	7 August 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Guest	Marion Smaillie
	💍 1902/4546
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel, Otago	Wingatui, Mosgiel
Length of Residence	21 years	20 years
Marriage Place	At the house of James Harper, Smaillie, Wingatui, Mosgiel
Folio	02/4376
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 August 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. W. Boreham

23 August 1902

James Boyd Dunn
Elizabeth Kerr M'Taggart

James Boyd Dunn
Elizabeth Kerr McTaggart
💍 1902/4553

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

31
28

Mosgiel
Mosgiel

3 days
7 years

At the house of Mrs. Thomas M'Taggart, Mosgiel

02/4377

23 August 1902

Rev. F. W. Boreham

No	19
Date of Notice	23 August 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Boyd Dunn	Elizabeth Kerr M'Taggart
BDM Match (98%)	James Boyd Dunn	Elizabeth Kerr McTaggart
	💍 1902/4553
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	31	28
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel	Mosgiel
Length of Residence	3 days	7 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Mrs. Thomas M'Taggart, Mosgiel
Folio	02/4377
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 August 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. W. Boreham

30 August 1902

John Fowler Jun.
Jessie Bremner

John Fowler Junr
Jessie Bremner
💍 1902/4554

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23
28

East Taieri
Mosgiel

10 years
10 years

At the house of John Fowler Sen., North Taieri

02/4378

30 August 1902

Rev. M. Watt

No	20
Date of Notice	30 August 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Fowler Jun.	Jessie Bremner
BDM Match (97%)	John Fowler Junr	Jessie Bremner
	💍 1902/4554
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23	28
Dwelling Place	East Taieri	Mosgiel
Length of Residence	10 years	10 years
Marriage Place	At the house of John Fowler Sen., North Taieri
Folio	02/4378
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 August 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Watt

26 September 1902

Charles Henry Fleming
Mary Loudon

Charles Henry Fleming
Mary Loudon
💍 1902/6271

Bachelor
Spinster

Dredge Builder

26
29

Walton Park, Otago
Walton Park

3 weeks
4 months

At the house of James Loudon, Walton Park

02/6311

26 September 1902

Rev. M. Watt

No	21
Date of Notice	26 September 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Fleming	Mary Loudon
	💍 1902/6271
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dredge Builder
Age	26	29
Dwelling Place	Walton Park, Otago	Walton Park
Length of Residence	3 weeks	4 months
Marriage Place	At the house of James Loudon, Walton Park
Folio	02/6311
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 September 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Watt

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).