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 615

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1903 Registrar Henry Maxwell

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

2 January 1903

Joseph Storer
Gertrude Amelia Storer

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

26 years
22 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

03/1187

2 January 1903

H. Maxwell, Registrar

No	1
Date of Notice	2 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Storer	Gertrude Amelia Storer
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	26 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	03/1187
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 January 1903
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell, Registrar

2 January 1903

Thomas Lawson
Jane Turnbull

Thomas Carter
Lillie Turnbull
💍 1903/4951

Bachelor
Spinster

Dredgeman

29 years
29 years

Caversham
Caversham

3 days
3 days

In the house of George Rennie, Caversham

03/1439

2 January 1903

D. Dutton

No	2
Date of Notice	2 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Lawson	Jane Turnbull
BDM Match (64%)	Thomas Carter	Lillie Turnbull
	💍 1903/4951
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dredgeman
Age	29 years	29 years
Dwelling Place	Caversham	Caversham
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the house of George Rennie, Caversham
Folio	03/1439
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 January 1903
Officiating Minister	D. Dutton

2 January 1903

William Rushan Tubby
Lillie Dodson

William Arthur Tubby
Lillie Paddon
💍 1903/1015

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

26 years
25 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

1 week
1 week

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

03/1188

2 January 1903

H. Maxwell, Registrar

No	3
Date of Notice	2 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Rushan Tubby	Lillie Dodson
BDM Match (76%)	William Arthur Tubby	Lillie Paddon
	💍 1903/1015
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	26 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 week	1 week
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	03/1188
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 January 1903
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell, Registrar

3 January 1903

John Stewart
Catherine Sutherland

John Stewart
Catherine Cuthbertson
💍 1903/1779

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

27 years
28 years

South Dunedin East Valley
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the house of Jas. McMillan, Cuthbert Street, Albert Street, Dunedin

03/1264

3 January 1903

D. Borrie

No	4
Date of Notice	3 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Stewart	Catherine Sutherland
BDM Match (86%)	John Stewart	Catherine Cuthbertson
	💍 1903/1779
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	27 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin East Valley	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the house of Jas. McMillan, Cuthbert Street, Albert Street, Dunedin
Folio	03/1264
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1903
Officiating Minister	D. Borrie

5 January 1903

John Roy
Margaret Connolly

John Roy
Margaret Connolly
💍 1903/2023

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

29 years
28 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

10 years
10 years

In the house of William Don, Caversham, Dunedin

03/1947

5 January 1903

W. A. Sindon

No	5
Date of Notice	5 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Roy	Margaret Connolly
	💍 1903/2023
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	29 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	10 years	10 years
Marriage Place	In the house of William Don, Caversham, Dunedin
Folio	03/1947
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1903
Officiating Minister	W. A. Sindon

5 January 1903

Francis Edwin Anderson
Mary Jane Ryall

Francis Edwin Wackeldine
Mary Jane Wyeth
💍 1903/1016

Francis Cantelin
Mary Jane Hall
💍 1904/3621

Widower
Spinster

Fireman

32 years
27 years

South Dunedin
South Dunedin

5 years
5 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

03/1189

5 January 1903

H. Maxwell, Registrar

No	6
Date of Notice	5 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Edwin Anderson	Mary Jane Ryall
BDM Match (70%)	Francis Edwin Wackeldine	Mary Jane Wyeth
	💍 1903/1016
BDM Match (68%)	Francis Cantelin	Mary Jane Hall
	💍 1904/3621
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Fireman
Age	32 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	South Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	03/1189
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1903
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell, 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).