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 447

District of Oxford Quarter ending 31 March 1903 Registrar J W Ryde

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

Frederick Gray
Annie Paget

Frederick Gray
Annie Paget
💍 1903/986

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic

23
22

Governors Bay
West Oxford

3 Days
22 years

St Mary's church Oxford

03/1121

13 January 1903

Rev R.H. Parlett

No	1
Date of Notice	13 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Gray	Annie Paget
	💍 1903/986
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Governors Bay	West Oxford
Length of Residence	3 Days	22 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's church Oxford
Folio	03/1121
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev R.H. Parlett

16 January 1903

James McCormack
Elizabeth Sabina Jennings

James McCormack
Elizabeth Sabina Jennings
💍 1903/987

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic

45
21

West Oxford
West Oxford

8 Years
21 Years

Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart West Oxford

03/1122

16 January 1903

Rev W Hyland

No	2
Date of Notice	16 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James McCormack	Elizabeth Sabina Jennings
	💍 1903/987
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic
Age	45	21
Dwelling Place	West Oxford	West Oxford
Length of Residence	8 Years	21 Years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart West Oxford
Folio	03/1122
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev W Hyland

31 January 1903

Hugh Wilson
Mary Palson

Hugh Wilson
Mary Poulsen
💍 1903/988

George Murdoch Wilson
Mary Wilson
💍 1903/4581

Samuel Wilson
Mary Ann Wilson
💍 1903/4458

Bachelor
Spinster

Salvation Army Officer
Salvation Army Officer

34
30

East Oxford
East Oxford

3 weeks
2 Days

The Town Hall East Oxford

03/1123

31 January 1903

John Major Cain

No	3
Date of Notice	31 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Wilson	Mary Palson
BDM Match (88%)	Hugh Wilson	Mary Poulsen
	💍 1903/988
BDM Match (62%)	George Murdoch Wilson	Mary Wilson
	💍 1903/4581
BDM Match (61%)	Samuel Wilson	Mary Ann Wilson
	💍 1903/4458
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salvation Army Officer	Salvation Army Officer
Age	34	30
Dwelling Place	East Oxford	East Oxford
Length of Residence	3 weeks	2 Days
Marriage Place	The Town Hall East Oxford
Folio	03/1123
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1903
Officiating Minister	John Major Cain

10 March 1903

Richard James Rossiter
Clarissa Summerfield

Richard James Rossiter
Clarissa Summerfield
💍 1903/990

Charles Henry Rossiter
Louisa Summerfield
💍 1903/4566

Bachelor
Spinster

Timber merchant
Domestic duties

25
21

Sheffield
East Oxford

4 Days
5 months

At the house of the brides father East Oxford

03/1124

10 March 1903

Thomas Wagstaff

No	4
Date of Notice	10 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard James Rossiter	Clarissa Summerfield
	💍 1903/990
BDM Match (63%)	Charles Henry Rossiter	Louisa Summerfield
	💍 1903/4566
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Timber merchant	Domestic duties
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Sheffield	East Oxford
Length of Residence	4 Days	5 months
Marriage Place	At the house of the brides father East Oxford
Folio	03/1124
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1903
Officiating Minister	Thomas Wagstaff

26 March 1903

Samuel James Rossiter
Ellen Sirett

Samuel James Rossiter
Ellen Sirett
💍 1903/3138

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

23
23

East Oxford
View Hill

5 months
15 Years

at the house of the brides father, View Hill

03/1125

26 March 1903

Rev Thomas J Wallis

No	5
Date of Notice	26 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel James Rossiter	Ellen Sirett
	💍 1903/3138
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	East Oxford	View Hill
Length of Residence	5 months	15 Years
Marriage Place	at the house of the brides father, View Hill
Folio	03/1125
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev Thomas J Wallis

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).