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 903

District of Palmerston Quarter ending 31 March 1902 Registrar F. W. Batchelor

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

4 January 1902

David Alexander Gray
Margaret Fraser

David Alexander Craig
Margaret Fraser
💍 1902/479

Bachelor
Spinster

Bridge Master
School Teacher

31
26

Palmerston
Palmerston

7 days
26 years

Residence of Angus Fraser

02/1449

4 January 1902

Rev. Wm. Nichol, Hampden

No	1
Date of Notice	4 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Alexander Gray	Margaret Fraser
BDM Match (93%)	David Alexander Craig	Margaret Fraser
	💍 1902/479
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bridge Master	School Teacher
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Palmerston	Palmerston
Length of Residence	7 days	26 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Angus Fraser
Folio	02/1449
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Nichol, Hampden

6 January 1902

David Mackie Fairbairn
Alice Selina Johnstone

David Mackie Fairbairn
Alice Selina Johnstone
💍 1902/481

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller
Dressmaker

31
23

Palmerston
Palmerston

3 days
23 years

Residence of Adam Currie

02/1457

6 January 1902

Rev. Jas. Clarke, Palmerston

No	2
Date of Notice	6 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Mackie Fairbairn	Alice Selina Johnstone
	💍 1902/481
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller	Dressmaker
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Palmerston	Palmerston
Length of Residence	3 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Adam Currie
Folio	02/1457
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jas. Clarke, Palmerston

14 January 1902

Thomas Paterson
Marie Louisa Thomsen

Thomas Paterson
Marie Lousia Thomsen
💍 1902/480

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic

30
21

Palmerston
Palmerston

3 days
16 days

Residence of J. Thomsen

02/1450

14 January 1902

Rev. Jas. Clarke, Palmerston

No	3
Date of Notice	14 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Paterson	Marie Louisa Thomsen
BDM Match (95%)	Thomas Paterson	Marie Lousia Thomsen
	💍 1902/480
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Palmerston	Palmerston
Length of Residence	3 days	16 days
Marriage Place	Residence of J. Thomsen
Folio	02/1450
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jas. Clarke, Palmerston

March 1902

James Brander
Christina Simpson

James Brander
Christina Simpson
💍 1902/482

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic

39
31

Dunback
Macraes Flat

11 years
5 months

Residence of A. Simpson, Macraes Flat

02/1452

4 March 1902

Rev. Jas. Clarke

No	4
Date of Notice	March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Brander	Christina Simpson
	💍 1902/482
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic
Age	39	31
Dwelling Place	Dunback	Macraes Flat
Length of Residence	11 years	5 months
Marriage Place	Residence of A. Simpson, Macraes Flat
Folio	02/1452
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jas. Clarke

March 1902

Mungo Kirkwood
Millie Hurndell

Mungo Kirkwood
Millie Hurndell
💍 1902/483

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

23
22

Palmerston
Palmerston

3 days
3 days

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Palmerston

02/1453

4 March 1902

F. W. Batchelor, Registrar

No	32
Date of Notice	March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Mungo Kirkwood	Millie Hurndell
	💍 1902/483
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Palmerston	Palmerston
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Palmerston
Folio	02/1453
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1902
Officiating Minister	F. W. Batchelor, Registrar

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).