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 862

District of Naseby Quarter ending 31 December 1902 Registrar F. T. Barnard

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

124

14 October 1902

Edwin Charles Jopson
Mary Ann O'Brien

Edwin Charles Jopson
Mary Ann O'Brien
💍 1902/6263

Bachelor

Labourer
Domestic

25
20

Wedderburn
Wedderburn

4 years
20 years

St Patrick's Roman Catholic Church

02/6303

17 October 1902

Rev. W. A. McMillan

No	124
Date of Notice	14 October 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Charles Jopson	Mary Ann O'Brien
	💍 1902/6263
Condition	Bachelor
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Wedderburn	Wedderburn
Length of Residence	4 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St Patrick's Roman Catholic Church
Folio	02/6303
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 October 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. McMillan

125

8 November 1902

William Dowdle
Janet Kerr

William Dowdle
Jane Coventry Kerr
💍 1902/5956

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

46
30

Naseby
Gimmerburn

5 years
18 years

Salvation Army Barracks

02/6113

8 November 1902

Major Henry Gallant

No	125
Date of Notice	8 November 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Dowdle	Janet Kerr
BDM Match (78%)	William Dowdle	Jane Coventry Kerr
	💍 1902/5956
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	46	30
Dwelling Place	Naseby	Gimmerburn
Length of Residence	5 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Barracks
Folio	02/6113
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 November 1902
Officiating Minister	Major Henry Gallant

126

8 November 1902

William Malone
Mary Kathleen Hennessy

William Malone
Mary Kathleen Hennessy
💍 1902/6264

Bachelor
Spinster

Foreman
Housemaid

32
31

Ranfurly
Naseby

9 months
31 years

St Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, Naseby

02/6304

8 November 1902

Rev. W. A. McMillan

No	126
Date of Notice	8 November 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Malone	Mary Kathleen Hennessy
	💍 1902/6264
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Foreman	Housemaid
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Ranfurly	Naseby
Length of Residence	9 months	31 years
Marriage Place	St Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, Naseby
Folio	02/6304
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 November 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. McMillan

127

15 November 1902

William Henry Barratt
Hannah Head

William Henry Barratt
Hannah Heads
💍 1902/5957

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic

29
20

Alexandra South
Wellington

1 year
1 year

Town Hall, Naseby

02/6114

15 November 1902

Major Henry Gallant

No	127
Date of Notice	15 November 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Barratt	Hannah Head
BDM Match (96%)	William Henry Barratt	Hannah Heads
	💍 1902/5957
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Alexandra South	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	Town Hall, Naseby
Folio	02/6114
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 November 1902
Officiating Minister	Major Henry Gallant

128

2 December 1902

John Slater
Johanna Burton Forrester

John Slater
Johanna Burtin Forrester
💍 1902/5959

Bachelor
Spinster

Forwarding Agent
Domestic

29
31

Ida Valley
Eweburn

2 months
20 years

Mr. John Forrester's private residence

02/6115

2 December 1902

Rev. G. McCosh Smith

No	128
Date of Notice	2 December 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Slater	Johanna Burton Forrester
BDM Match (98%)	John Slater	Johanna Burtin Forrester
	💍 1902/5959
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Forwarding Agent	Domestic
Age	29	31
Dwelling Place	Ida Valley	Eweburn
Length of Residence	2 months	20 years
Marriage Place	Mr. John Forrester's private residence
Folio	02/6115
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 December 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. McCosh Smith

129

26 December 1902

Savage Dean
Jane Ann Healey

Savage Evans
Jane Ann Healey
💍 1902/6265

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Dressmaker

24
23

Ranfurly
Ranfurly

3 years
3 weeks

St Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, Naseby

02/6305

26 December 1902

Rev. W. A. McMillan

No	129
Date of Notice	26 December 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Savage Dean	Jane Ann Healey
BDM Match (88%)	Savage Evans	Jane Ann Healey
	💍 1902/6265
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Dressmaker
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Ranfurly	Ranfurly
Length of Residence	3 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	St Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, Naseby
Folio	02/6305
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 December 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. McMillan

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).