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 727

District of East Taieri Quarter ending 30 June 1903 Registrar G B Burns

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

3 April 1903

John Robertson
Christina Susan McDuff

John Robertson
Christina Susan McDuff
💍 1903/3780

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor Cutter
Factory Worker

28 years
23 years

Mosgiel, Otago
Wingatui, Otago

4 years
19 years

In the house of Archibald McDuff, Wingatui, Otago

03/3099

3 April 1903

Rev J. M. McKerrow, Mosgiel

No	8
Date of Notice	3 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Robertson	Christina Susan McDuff
	💍 1903/3780
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor Cutter	Factory Worker
Age	28 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel, Otago	Wingatui, Otago
Length of Residence	4 years	19 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Archibald McDuff, Wingatui, Otago
Folio	03/3099
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev J. M. McKerrow, Mosgiel

22 April 1903

John Logan
Elizabeth Kirkcaldy Grain

John Logan
Elizabeth Kirkcaldy Prain
💍 1903/3781

John Logan
Lily Mary Hurring
💍 1903/1011

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

38 years
37 years

East Taieri, Otago
Mosgiel, Otago

3 Days
37 years

In the house of Elizabeth Grain, Mosgiel, Otago

03/3100

22 April 1903

Rev J. M. McKerrow, Mosgiel

No	9
Date of Notice	22 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Logan	Elizabeth Kirkcaldy Grain
BDM Match (98%)	John Logan	Elizabeth Kirkcaldy Prain
	💍 1903/3781
BDM Match (62%)	John Logan	Lily Mary Hurring
	💍 1903/1011
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	38 years	37 years
Dwelling Place	East Taieri, Otago	Mosgiel, Otago
Length of Residence	3 Days	37 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Elizabeth Grain, Mosgiel, Otago
Folio	03/3100
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev J. M. McKerrow, Mosgiel

27 April 1903

William Rankin
Margaret Ann Mealings

William Rankin
Margaret Ann Mealings
💍 1903/3782

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24 years
19 years

North Taieri, Otago
North Taieri, Otago

24 years
15 years

House of Richard Woolford, North Taieri, Otago

03/3101

Richard Woolford, Stepfather

27 April 1903

Rev J. M. McKerrow, Mosgiel

No	10
Date of Notice	27 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Rankin	Margaret Ann Mealings
	💍 1903/3782
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	North Taieri, Otago	North Taieri, Otago
Length of Residence	24 years	15 years
Marriage Place	House of Richard Woolford, North Taieri, Otago
Folio	03/3101
Consent	Richard Woolford, Stepfather
Date of Certificate	27 April 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev J. M. McKerrow, Mosgiel

6 June 1903

William Kyle
Edith Graham

William Kyle
Edith Graham
💍 1903/3783

Widower
Spinster

Miner

44 years
20 years

Mosgiel, Otago
Mosgiel, Otago

4 days
4 days

Office of the Registrar, East Taieri

03/3102

Thomas Graham, Father

6 June 1903

G. B. Burns, Registrar

No	11
Date of Notice	6 June 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Kyle	Edith Graham
	💍 1903/3783
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	44 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel, Otago	Mosgiel, Otago
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, East Taieri
Folio	03/3102
Consent	Thomas Graham, Father
Date of Certificate	6 June 1903
Officiating Minister	G. B. Burns, Registrar

22 June 1903

Alexander Young Cook
Martha Mary Forster Davidson

Alexander Young Cook
Martha Mary Forster Davidson
💍 1903/3784

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

22 years
22 years

Mosgiel, Otago
Mosgiel, Otago

5 years
2 years

Residence of Mrs Mary Davidson, King Street, Mosgiel, Otago

03/3103

22 June 1903

Rev. A. Hopper, Mosgiel

No	12
Date of Notice	22 June 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Young Cook	Martha Mary Forster Davidson
	💍 1903/3784
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	22 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Mosgiel, Otago	Mosgiel, Otago
Length of Residence	5 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Mary Davidson, King Street, Mosgiel, Otago
Folio	03/3103
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 June 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Hopper, Mosgiel

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).