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 707

District of East Taieri Quarter ending 31 December 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

3 October 1902

John Hamilton
Grace Montgomery Wright

John Hamilton
Grace Montgomery Wright
💍 1902/6038

Bachelor
Spinster

Factory Worker

25
30

East Taieri
North Taieri, Otago

20 years
15 years

At the house of Mrs. James Wright, North Taieri, Otago

096269

3 October 1902

Rev. J. M. McKerrow

No	22
Date of Notice	3 October 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hamilton	Grace Montgomery Wright
	💍 1902/6038
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Factory Worker
Age	25	30
Dwelling Place	East Taieri	North Taieri, Otago
Length of Residence	20 years	15 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Mrs. James Wright, North Taieri, Otago
Folio	096269
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 October 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. McKerrow

27 October 1902

William Kerr Innes
Ruth Brown Cook

William Kerr Junior
Ruth Brown Cook
💍 1902/6276

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

33
30

Abbotsford, Otago
Fairfield, Otago

3 days
27 years

At the house of Alex. Cook, Fairfield, Otago

096315

27 October 1902

Dr. Michael Watt

No	23
Date of Notice	27 October 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Kerr Innes	Ruth Brown Cook
BDM Match (87%)	William Kerr Junior	Ruth Brown Cook
	💍 1902/6276
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	33	30
Dwelling Place	Abbotsford, Otago	Fairfield, Otago
Length of Residence	3 days	27 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Alex. Cook, Fairfield, Otago
Folio	096315
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 October 1902
Officiating Minister	Dr. Michael Watt

6 November 1902

Andrew Ralston
Isabella McColl

Andrew Ralston
Isabella McColl
💍 1902/6277

Bachelor
Spinster

Fitter

25
24

Saddle Hill, Otago
Saddle Hill, Otago

7 days
24 years

At the house of Mrs. John McColl, Saddle Hill, Otago

096316

6 November 1902

Dr. Michael Watt

No	24
Date of Notice	6 November 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Ralston	Isabella McColl
	💍 1902/6277
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fitter
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Saddle Hill, Otago	Saddle Hill, Otago
Length of Residence	7 days	24 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Mrs. John McColl, Saddle Hill, Otago
Folio	096316
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1902
Officiating Minister	Dr. Michael Watt

8 November 1902

Peter McEwan
Mary Jane White

Peter McEwan
Mary Jane White
💍 1902/5974

Bachelor
Spinster

Groom

21
22

Mosgiel, Otago
Mosgiel, Otago

3 days
3 weeks

At the house of Mr. James White, Mosgiel, Otago

096058

8 November 1902

Rev. M. J. B. Bennet

No	25
Date of Notice	8 November 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter McEwan	Mary Jane White
	💍 1902/5974
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Groom
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel, Otago	Mosgiel, Otago
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	At the house of Mr. James White, Mosgiel, Otago
Folio	096058
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 November 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. J. B. Bennet

18 November 1902

Walter Ross Jaffray
Margaret Ross Ingham Douglas

Walter Ross Jaffray
Margaret Moss Ingram Douglas
💍 1902/5975

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
36

Saddle Hill, Otago
Riccarton, Otago

30 years
1 year

At the house of Alex. Douglas, Riccarton, Otago

096059

18 November 1902

Rev. J. B. Hall

No	26
Date of Notice	18 November 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Ross Jaffray	Margaret Ross Ingham Douglas
BDM Match (96%)	Walter Ross Jaffray	Margaret Moss Ingram Douglas
	💍 1902/5975
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	36
Dwelling Place	Saddle Hill, Otago	Riccarton, Otago
Length of Residence	30 years	1 year
Marriage Place	At the house of Alex. Douglas, Riccarton, Otago
Folio	096059
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 November 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. B. Hall

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).