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 631

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

110

26 March 1903

Mark Rogers
Janet Nelson Morrison Banfield

Mark Rogers
Janet Nelson Morrison Banfield
💍 1903/3279

Bachelor
Spinster

Coal Merchant

32 years
20 years

Dunedin
Onaka

20 years
20 years

In the house of Mr. David Cherry, Onaka

03/2956

Elizabeth Cherry, Mother

26 March 1903

J. Chisholm

No	110
Date of Notice	26 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Mark Rogers	Janet Nelson Morrison Banfield
	💍 1903/3279
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coal Merchant
Age	32 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Onaka
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. David Cherry, Onaka
Folio	03/2956
Consent	Elizabeth Cherry, Mother
Date of Certificate	26 March 1903
Officiating Minister	J. Chisholm

111

26 March 1903

Charles Cornelius Carter
Elizabeth Wallace

Charles Cornelius Carter
Elizabeth Wallace
💍 1903/3787

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

28 years
26 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

26 years
26 years

In the house of Mrs. Jane Carter, Richardson Street, Dunedin

03/3088

26 March 1903

Wm. Saunders

No	111
Date of Notice	26 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Cornelius Carter	Elizabeth Wallace
	💍 1903/3787
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	28 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	26 years	26 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs. Jane Carter, Richardson Street, Dunedin
Folio	03/3088
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1903
Officiating Minister	Wm. Saunders

112

26 March 1903

Arthur Meiklejohn
Annie Harris

Arthur Meiklejohn
Annie Harris
💍 1903/1113

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Hosier

30 years
25 years

Mornington
Mornington

30 years
3 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

03/1207

26 March 1903

H. Maxwell

No	112
Date of Notice	26 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Meiklejohn	Annie Harris
	💍 1903/1113
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Hosier
Age	30 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Mornington	Mornington
Length of Residence	30 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	03/1207
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1903
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

113

27 March 1903

Frank George Aburn
Mary McPherson

Frank George Aburn
Mary McPherson
💍 1903/3797

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

23 years
27 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

12 years
7 years

In the house of Mr. Samuel Aburn, 38 Leith Street, Dunedin

03/3092

27 March 1903

M. H. Green

No	113
Date of Notice	27 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank George Aburn	Mary McPherson
	💍 1903/3797
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	23 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	12 years	7 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Samuel Aburn, 38 Leith Street, Dunedin
Folio	03/3092
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1903
Officiating Minister	M. H. Green

114

27 March 1903

James Sim
Eliza Christina Thompson

James Sim
Eliza Christina Thompson
💍 1903/1060

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

21 years
20 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

1 week
20 years

In the house of Mr. James Thompson, 4 Scotland Street, Dunedin

03/1298

James Thompson, Father

27 March 1903

W. S. Fornie

No	114
Date of Notice	27 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Sim	Eliza Christina Thompson
	💍 1903/1060
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	21 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 week	20 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. James Thompson, 4 Scotland Street, Dunedin
Folio	03/1298
Consent	James Thompson, Father
Date of Certificate	27 March 1903
Officiating Minister	W. S. Fornie

115

28 March 1903

Isaac Jolly
Eliza Johanna Sidey

Bachelor
Spinster

Clergyman

50 years
38 years

Roslyn
Caversham

1 week
20 years

In the house of Mr. John Sidey, Caversham

See note

28 March 1903

G. Dutton

No	115
Date of Notice	28 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Isaac Jolly	Eliza Johanna Sidey
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clergyman
Age	50 years	38 years
Dwelling Place	Roslyn	Caversham
Length of Residence	1 week	20 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. John Sidey, Caversham
Folio	See note
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1903
Officiating Minister	G. Dutton

116

30 March 1903

Albert Mann Beath
Penelope Jaggar Farquharson

Albert Marr Beath
Penelope Taggart Farquharson
💍 1903/3888

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler

25 years
27 years

Dunedin
North East Valley

25 years
27 years

In the house of Mr. James Farquharson, North East Valley

03/3282

30 March 1903

G. Dutton

No	116
Date of Notice	30 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Mann Beath	Penelope Jaggar Farquharson
BDM Match (91%)	Albert Marr Beath	Penelope Taggart Farquharson
	💍 1903/3888
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	25 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	North East Valley
Length of Residence	25 years	27 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. James Farquharson, North East Valley
Folio	03/3282
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 March 1903
Officiating Minister	G. Dutton

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).