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 331

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 1903 Registrar T. C. Williams

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

573

1 October 1903

Thomas Sydney Andrews
Dorothy Feare

Thomas Sydney Andrews
Dorothy Freme
💍 1903/6193

Bachelor
Spinster

Horse breeder

23
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

All Saints, Sumner

03/6005

1 October 1903

Arch. S. Thorpe, Anglican

No	573
Date of Notice	1 October 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Sydney Andrews	Dorothy Feare
BDM Match (88%)	Thomas Sydney Andrews	Dorothy Freme
	💍 1903/6193
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Horse breeder
Age	23	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	All Saints, Sumner
Folio	03/6005
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1903
Officiating Minister	Arch. S. Thorpe, Anglican

574

1 October 1903

Arthur Frederick Gibbs
Catherine Nielsen

John Lewis Gibbs
Catherine Poulsen
💍 1903/6011

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener

26
23

Papanui
Papanui

2 years
23 years

St. Paul's, Papanui

03/5977

1 October 1903

Rev. J. Campbell, Anglican

No	574
Date of Notice	1 October 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Frederick Gibbs	Catherine Nielsen
BDM Match (64%)	John Lewis Gibbs	Catherine Poulsen
	💍 1903/6011
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Papanui	Papanui
Length of Residence	2 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's, Papanui
Folio	03/5977
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Campbell, Anglican

575

2 October 1903

Frederick John Booker
Mabel Stewart Squires

Frederick John Hooker
Mabel Stewart
💍 1903/6175

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinet Maker

25
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

14 years
21 years

St. Mary's, Addington

03/6011

2 October 1903

Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

No	575
Date of Notice	2 October 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick John Booker	Mabel Stewart Squires
BDM Match (79%)	Frederick John Hooker	Mabel Stewart
	💍 1903/6175
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinet Maker
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	14 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's, Addington
Folio	03/6011
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

576

2 October 1903

William James Piper
Rhoda Donovan

William James Bisher
Ethel Ada Donovan
💍 1903/298

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Waitress

29
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 months
21 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

03/5940

2 October 1903

Registrar, Christchurch

No	576
Date of Notice	2 October 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Piper	Rhoda Donovan
BDM Match (75%)	William James Bisher	Ethel Ada Donovan
	💍 1903/298
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Waitress
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 months	21 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	03/5940
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1903
Officiating Minister	Registrar, Christchurch

577

6 October 1903

George William Lincoln Mackay
Isabel May Matheson Blick

George William Lincoln Mackay
Isabel May Matheson Blick
💍 1903/6002

Bachelor
Spinster

Stock Agent

34
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
23 years

St. Michael's, Christchurch

03/5992

6 October 1903

Rev. C. A. Fraer, Anglican

No	577
Date of Notice	6 October 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Lincoln Mackay	Isabel May Matheson Blick
	💍 1903/6002
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stock Agent
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Michael's, Christchurch
Folio	03/5992
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 October 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Fraer, Anglican

578

6 October 1903

Peter Sorensen
Gertrude Patterson

Peder Sorensen
Gertrude Patterson
💍 1903/299

Bachelor
Widow

Storekeeper

39
32

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 weeks
8 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

03/5941

6 October 1903

Registrar, Christchurch

No	578
Date of Notice	6 October 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Sorensen	Gertrude Patterson
BDM Match (96%)	Peder Sorensen	Gertrude Patterson
	💍 1903/299
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	39	32
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 weeks	8 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	03/5941
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 October 1903
Officiating Minister	Registrar, Christchurch

580

6 October 1903

William Purse
Alice Johnson

William Purse
Alice Johnson
💍 1903/6148

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

27
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

27 years
22 years

House of Mr. Johnson, Lichfield Street, Christchurch

03/6024

6 October 1903

Rev. R. Elmslie, Presbyterian

No	580
Date of Notice	6 October 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Purse	Alice Johnson
	💍 1903/6148
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	27 years	22 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Johnson, Lichfield Street, Christchurch
Folio	03/6024
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 October 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Elmslie, Presbyterian

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).