Intentions to Marry, 1903 South Island

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840424, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, October 10 2025.

1903 is bound in two volumes, North Island districts and South Island districts.

Page 067

District of Buller Quarter ending 31 March 1903 Registrar Herbert Logie

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

13 January 1903

James Cairns Cowan
Esmokia Evelyn Ferguson

James Cairns Cowan
Zenobia Evelyn Ferguson
💍 1903/3120

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

28
19

Westport
Westport

1 week
Since birth

Presbyterian Church, Westport

03/811

George Ferguson

13 January 1903

Rev John Hall

No	1
Date of Notice	13 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Cairns Cowan	Esmokia Evelyn Ferguson
BDM Match (91%)	James Cairns Cowan	Zenobia Evelyn Ferguson
	💍 1903/3120
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	1 week	Since birth
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Westport
Folio	03/811
Consent	George Ferguson
Date of Certificate	13 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev John Hall

31 January 1903

Percy Albert Hammond
Janet Solomon

Percy Albert Hammond
Janet Solomon
💍 1903/6713

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

21
30

Westport
Westport

2 years
29 years

Salvation Army Barracks, Westport

03/817

31 January 1903

Staff Captain John Ward

No	2
Date of Notice	31 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Albert Hammond	Janet Solomon
	💍 1903/6713
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	21	30
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	2 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Barracks, Westport
Folio	03/817
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Staff Captain John Ward

4 February 1903

Alexander Dunbar
Esther Prior Gardner

Alexander Dunbar
Esther Prior Gardner
💍 1903/6708

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler

24
25

Westport
Westport

2 years
2 years

Private residence of E. Gardner, Queen Street, Westport

03/812

4 February 1903

Rev John Hall

No	3
Date of Notice	4 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Dunbar	Esther Prior Gardner
	💍 1903/6708
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Private residence of E. Gardner, Queen Street, Westport
Folio	03/812
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev John Hall

5 February 1903

Thomas Thomas
Frances Rhoda Jacobson

Thomas Thomas
Frances Rhoda Jacobson
💍 1903/6709

Bachelor
Spinster

Missionary

35
33

Westport
Westport

3 days
7 years

Presbyterian Church, Westport

03/813

5 February 1903

Rev John Hall

No	4
Date of Notice	5 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Thomas	Frances Rhoda Jacobson
	💍 1903/6709
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Missionary
Age	35	33
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	3 days	7 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Westport
Folio	03/813
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev John Hall

11 February 1903

William Finlayson
Ellen Comerford

William Finlayson
Ellen Comerford
💍 1903/6691

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

31
26

Reefton
Westport

4 years
3 days

R.C. Presbytery, Westport

03/818

11 February 1903

Rev Thos Malshe

No	5
Date of Notice	11 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Finlayson	Ellen Comerford
	💍 1903/6691
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Westport
Length of Residence	4 years	3 days
Marriage Place	R.C. Presbytery, Westport
Folio	03/818
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev Thos Malshe

16 February 1903

James Horace Greenwood
Rebecca Jane Elizabeth Naylor

James Horace Greenwood
Rebecca Jane Elizabeth Naylor
💍 1903/6711

Bachelor
Spinster

Bookseller and Stationer

28
22

Westport
Westport

12 years
9 years

Residence of J.W. Naylor, Bright Street, Westport

03/815

16 February 1903

Rev J.R. Dart

No	6
Date of Notice	16 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Horace Greenwood	Rebecca Jane Elizabeth Naylor
	💍 1903/6711
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bookseller and Stationer
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	12 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Residence of J.W. Naylor, Bright Street, Westport
Folio	03/815
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev J.R. Dart

19 February 1903

William Ross
Frances Lillian Walsher

William Ross
Frances Lillian Walker
💍 1903/6710

Bachelor
Spinster

Boiler Maker

34
20

Westport
Westport

1 week
1 week

English Church at Westport

03/814

Francis Decimus Walsher

19 February 1903

Rev J.R. Dart

No	7
Date of Notice	19 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Ross	Frances Lillian Walsher
BDM Match (96%)	William Ross	Frances Lillian Walker
	💍 1903/6710
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boiler Maker
Age	34	20
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	1 week	1 week
Marriage Place	English Church at Westport
Folio	03/814
Consent	Francis Decimus Walsher
Date of Certificate	19 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev J.R. Dart

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).