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 777

District of INVERCARGILL Quarter ending 30 June 1902 Registrar J. G. Pelore

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

1 April 1902

Robert Leobel
Catherine Taylor

Robert Scobie
Catherine Taylor
💍 1902/3251

William Robert Taylor
Catherine Taylor
💍 1902/4263

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

27
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
2 days

St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Invercargill

02/2949

1 April 1902

Rev. Thos. R. Lyon, George Lindsay

No	44
Date of Notice	1 April 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Leobel	Catherine Taylor
BDM Match (85%)	Robert Scobie	Catherine Taylor
	💍 1902/3251
BDM Match (67%)	William Robert Taylor	Catherine Taylor
	💍 1902/4263
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	2 days
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Invercargill
Folio	02/2949
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. R. Lyon, George Lindsay

1 April 1902

James Smith
Margaret Ellen Lindsay Robertson

James Smith
Margaret Ellen Lendray Robertson
💍 1902/3078

Widower
Spinster

Rentholder
Domestic

63
26

Invercargill
Invercargill

4 days
4 days

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

02/2937

1 April 1902

Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

No	45
Date of Notice	1 April 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Smith	Margaret Ellen Lindsay Robertson
BDM Match (97%)	James Smith	Margaret Ellen Lendray Robertson
	💍 1902/3078
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Rentholder	Domestic
Age	63	26
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill
Folio	02/2937
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1902
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

1 April 1902

Robert Crow
Ada Logan

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

28
24

Invercargill
Invercargill

14 months
10 years

Roman Catholic Church, Clyde Street, Invercargill

02/2954

1 April 1902

Rev. John Lynch

No	46
Date of Notice	1 April 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Crow	Ada Logan
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	14 months	10 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Clyde Street, Invercargill
Folio	02/2954
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Lynch

1 April 1902

Walter Thomas
Sarah Knuckey

Walter Thomas William Stroud
Sarah Knuckey
💍 1902/6393

Widower
Spinster

House Painter
Domestic

28
27

Invercargill
Invercargill

18 years
7 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

02/2938

1 April 1902

Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

No	47
Date of Notice	1 April 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Thomas	Sarah Knuckey
BDM Match (73%)	Walter Thomas William Stroud	Sarah Knuckey
	💍 1902/6393
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	House Painter	Domestic
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	18 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill
Folio	02/2938
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1902
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

5 April 1902

William Alexander McEwan
Frances Lilly Holmes

William Alexander McEwan
Frances Lilly Holmes
💍 1902/3330

Bachelor
Spinster

Grant Driver
Domestic

35
19

Invercargill
Invercargill

35 years
19 years

Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

02/2968

Alfred Holmes, Father

5 April 1902

Rev. J. Gibson Smith

No	48
Date of Notice	5 April 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alexander McEwan	Frances Lilly Holmes
	💍 1902/3330
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grant Driver	Domestic
Age	35	19
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	35 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	02/2968
Consent	Alfred Holmes, Father
Date of Certificate	5 April 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibson Smith

5 April 1902

Edward Sydney Barley Hearn
Mary Ann Sheatings

Edward Sydney Bailey Fearn
Mary Ann Hastings
💍 1902/178

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

20
27

Invercargill
Invercargill

2 years
5 months

St. John's English Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

02/4407

5 April 1902

Rev. Archdeacon Stocker

No	49
Date of Notice	5 April 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Sydney Barley Hearn	Mary Ann Sheatings
BDM Match (85%)	Edward Sydney Bailey Fearn	Mary Ann Hastings
	💍 1902/178
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	20	27
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	5 months
Marriage Place	St. John's English Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	02/4407
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 April 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archdeacon Stocker

7 April 1902

Allen Black
Ellen Maud Galbraith

Allen Fitch Clark
Ellen Maud Galbraith
💍 1902/3329

Bachelor
Spinster

Harbourman
Domestic

25
26

Invercargill
Invercargill

2 years
10 years

Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

02/2962

7 April 1902

Rev. J. Gibson Smith

No	50
Date of Notice	7 April 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allen Black	Ellen Maud Galbraith
BDM Match (76%)	Allen Fitch Clark	Ellen Maud Galbraith
	💍 1902/3329
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Harbourman	Domestic
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	02/2962
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibson Smith

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).