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 744

District of Gabriels Quarter ending 31 March 1903 Registrar Alexander Millar Eyles

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

113

5 January 1903

George Henry Martin
Emily Henry

George Henry Martin
Emily Henry
💍 1903/1046

Bachelor
Spinster

Watchmaker

26
28

Lawrence
Evans Flat

26 years
28 years

House of Mr Samuel Henry, Evans Flat

03/1308

5 January 1903

Rev'd Isaac Richards (Church of England)

No	113
Date of Notice	5 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Martin	Emily Henry
	💍 1903/1046
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Watchmaker
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Lawrence	Evans Flat
Length of Residence	26 years	28 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr Samuel Henry, Evans Flat
Folio	03/1308
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev'd Isaac Richards (Church of England)

114

12 February 1903

John Carr
Maggie Hogan

John Carr
Maggie Colgan
💍 1903/1049

John Abel Carr
Maggie Manson
💍 1904/3071

Bachelor
Spinster

Dredgehand

34
31

Waipori
Lawrence

3 years
3 weeks

Roman Catholic Church, Lawrence

03/1311

16 February 1903

Rev'd John Geary (Roman Catholic)

No	114
Date of Notice	12 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Carr	Maggie Hogan
BDM Match (92%)	John Carr	Maggie Colgan
	💍 1903/1049
BDM Match (63%)	John Abel Carr	Maggie Manson
	💍 1904/3071
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dredgehand
Age	34	31
Dwelling Place	Waipori	Lawrence
Length of Residence	3 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Lawrence
Folio	03/1311
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev'd John Geary (Roman Catholic)

115

2 February 1903

Andrew Leslie Hermann
Elsie Gladys Wren

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
23

Lawrence
Lawrence

3 days
23 years

Church of England, Lawrence

03/1309

21 February 1903

Rev'd Isaac Richards (Church of England)

No	115
Date of Notice	2 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Leslie Hermann	Elsie Gladys Wren
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Lawrence	Lawrence
Length of Residence	3 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Lawrence
Folio	03/1309
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev'd Isaac Richards (Church of England)

116

4 March 1903

James Ross
Margaret Jones

James Ross
Margaret Jones
💍 1903/1103

Bachelor
Spinster

Dredgehand
Domestic Servant

38
23

Tuapeka Flat
Dunedin

38 years
7 days

Office of Registrar of Marriages at Dunedin

03/1200

4 March 1903

Registrar of Marriages at Dunedin

No	116
Date of Notice	4 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Ross	Margaret Jones
	💍 1903/1103
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dredgehand	Domestic Servant
Age	38	23
Dwelling Place	Tuapeka Flat	Dunedin
Length of Residence	38 years	7 days
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages at Dunedin
Folio	03/1200
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1903
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages at Dunedin

117

12 March 1903

Gustaf Polson
Stella Luckey

Gustaf Polson
Stella Tuckey
💍 1903/1048

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

21
19

Lawrence
Lawrence

2 years
19 years

Church of England, Lawrence

03/1310

Robert Luckey

13 March 1903

Rev'd Isaac Richards (Church of England)

No	117
Date of Notice	12 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gustaf Polson	Stella Luckey
BDM Match (96%)	Gustaf Polson	Stella Tuckey
	💍 1903/1048
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Lawrence	Lawrence
Length of Residence	2 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Lawrence
Folio	03/1310
Consent	Robert Luckey
Date of Certificate	13 March 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev'd Isaac Richards (Church of England)

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).