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 768

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1902 Registrar John Gaumon Petrie

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 January 1902

Henry Burkenhaw Back
Mary Ann Foster

Henry Burtenshaw
Mary Ann Foster
💍 1902/446

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
24

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 Days
10 Years

St. Pauls Wesleyan Church, Peel Street, Invercargill

09/1415

3 January 1902

Rev. J. A. Luxford

No	1
Date of Notice	3 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Burkenhaw Back	Mary Ann Foster
BDM Match (83%)	Henry Burtenshaw	Mary Ann Foster
	💍 1902/446
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 Days	10 Years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Wesleyan Church, Peel Street, Invercargill
Folio	09/1415
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Luxford

6 January 1902

Ernest William Broad
Maria Hindman

Ernest William Croad
Maria Henderson
💍 1902/423

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer

28
29

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 Days
3 Days

The Manse, Kelvin Street, Invercargill

09/1398

6 January 1902

Rev. Geo. Lindsay

No	2
Date of Notice	6 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest William Broad	Maria Hindman
BDM Match (81%)	Ernest William Croad	Maria Henderson
	💍 1902/423
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 Days	3 Days
Marriage Place	The Manse, Kelvin Street, Invercargill
Folio	09/1398
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Lindsay

6 January 1902

John McKinnon
Grace McLachlan

John McKinnon
Grace McLachlan
💍 1902/433

Bachelor
Spinster

Teacher
Dressmaker

29
31

Invercargill
Invercargill

2 Years

Store of Mrs. Margaret Mc Lachlan, Elle Road East, Invercargill

09/1495

6 January 1902

Rev. W. White

No	3
Date of Notice	6 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McKinnon	Grace McLachlan
	💍 1902/433
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teacher	Dressmaker
Age	29	31
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 Years
Marriage Place	Store of Mrs. Margaret Mc Lachlan, Elle Road East, Invercargill
Folio	09/1495
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. White

13 January 1902

George Thomas De Names
Amelia Smoothy

George Thomas De Manser
Amelia Smoothy
💍 1902/430

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

30
19

Athin Siding
Tilbury

5 Months
3 Years

St. Marys Roman Catholic Church, Clyde Street, Invercargill

09/1427

Edward Smoothy, Father

13 January 1902

The Very Rev. Dean Burke

No	4
Date of Notice	13 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Thomas De Names	Amelia Smoothy
BDM Match (91%)	George Thomas De Manser	Amelia Smoothy
	💍 1902/430
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	30	19
Dwelling Place	Athin Siding	Tilbury
Length of Residence	5 Months	3 Years
Marriage Place	St. Marys Roman Catholic Church, Clyde Street, Invercargill
Folio	09/1427
Consent	Edward Smoothy, Father
Date of Certificate	13 January 1902
Officiating Minister	The Very Rev. Dean Burke

14 January 1902

William McDonald
Mary Baldwin

William McDonald
Mary Baldwin
💍 1902/424

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

25
25

Invercargill
Invercargill

25 Years

The Manse, Kelvin Street, Invercargill

09/1399

14 January 1902

Rev. Geo. Lindsay

No	5
Date of Notice	14 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McDonald	Mary Baldwin
	💍 1902/424
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	25 Years
Marriage Place	The Manse, Kelvin Street, Invercargill
Folio	09/1399
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Lindsay

21 January 1902

Herbert James Johnston
Helen Maedougall

Herbert James Johnston
Helen Macdougal
💍 1902/415

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor

25
23

East Invercargill
Invercargill

4 Days
20 Years

Store of Mrs. Lockhart, Tay Street, Invercargill

09/1407

21 January 1902

Rev. T. H. Lyon

No	6
Date of Notice	21 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert James Johnston	Helen Maedougall
BDM Match (94%)	Herbert James Johnston	Helen Macdougal
	💍 1902/415
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	East Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 Days	20 Years
Marriage Place	Store of Mrs. Lockhart, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	09/1407
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. H. Lyon

25 January 1902

Roland Croton
Rose McFarlane

Roland Norton
Rose McFarlane
💍 1902/447

Bachelor
Spinster

Sailor

22
20

Invercargill
Invercargill

15 Months
20 Years

Duncan Mc Farlane, Family Hotel, Esk Street, Invercargill

09/1416

Duncan Mc Farlane, Father

25 January 1902

Rev. J. A. Luxford

No	7
Date of Notice	25 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roland Croton	Rose McFarlane
BDM Match (88%)	Roland Norton	Rose McFarlane
	💍 1902/447
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sailor
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	15 Months	20 Years
Marriage Place	Duncan Mc Farlane, Family Hotel, Esk Street, Invercargill
Folio	09/1416
Consent	Duncan Mc Farlane, Father
Date of Certificate	25 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Luxford

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).