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 891

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 March 1903 Registrar R P Ward

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

2246

15 January 1903

David Herron
Rose Laura Swanson

David Herron
Rose Laura Swanson
💍 1903/1973

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

31
30

Oamaru
Oamaru

20 years
12 years

Residence of Mr David Herron, Swan St, Oamaru

03/1487

15 January 1903

Rev D McNicholl

No	2246
Date of Notice	15 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Herron	Rose Laura Swanson
	💍 1903/1973
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	20 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr David Herron, Swan St, Oamaru
Folio	03/1487
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev D McNicholl

2247

20 January 1903

Arthur Robert Watson
Margaret Angus

Arthur Robert Watson
Margaret Angus
💍 1903/1893

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

21
19

Peebles
Peebles

7 days
14 days

Residence of Mr William Longman Angus, at Peebles

03/1380

William Longman Angus (Father)

20 January 1903

Rev John Steven

No	2247
Date of Notice	20 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Robert Watson	Margaret Angus
	💍 1903/1893
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Peebles	Peebles
Length of Residence	7 days	14 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr William Longman Angus, at Peebles
Folio	03/1380
Consent	William Longman Angus (Father)
Date of Certificate	20 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev John Steven

2248

23 January 1903

Colin Sievewright
Elizabeth Hadden McGhie

Colin Sievewright
Elizabeth Hadden McGhie
💍 1903/1900

Widower
Spinster

Bootmaker

30
29

Oamaru
Oamaru

5 years
29 years

Residence of Mrs McGhie, Eden Street, Oamaru

03/1387

23 January 1903

Rev W Wright

No	2248
Date of Notice	23 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Colin Sievewright	Elizabeth Hadden McGhie
	💍 1903/1900
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	5 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs McGhie, Eden Street, Oamaru
Folio	03/1387
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev W Wright

2249

27 January 1903

Albert John Speedy
Mildred Hermione Lemon

Albert John Speedy
Mildred Hermione Lemon
💍 1903/1896

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer
Governess

38
32

Oamaru
Oamaru

5 days
4 months

St Luke's Church, Oamaru

03/1383

27 January 1903

Ven. Archdeacon Gould

No	2249
Date of Notice	27 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert John Speedy	Mildred Hermione Lemon
	💍 1903/1896
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer	Governess
Age	38	32
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	5 days	4 months
Marriage Place	St Luke's Church, Oamaru
Folio	03/1383
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon Gould

2250

2 February 1903

Robert Robertson Gray
Mary Jane Read

Robert Robertson Gray
Mary Jane Read
💍 1903/1894

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

21
18

Pukewiri
Peebles

20 years
3 months

The Manse, Residence of Rev J Steven, at Peebles

03/1381

William Thomas Read (Father)

2 February 1903

Rev John Steven

No	2250
Date of Notice	2 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Robertson Gray	Mary Jane Read
	💍 1903/1894
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Pukewiri	Peebles
Length of Residence	20 years	3 months
Marriage Place	The Manse, Residence of Rev J Steven, at Peebles
Folio	03/1381
Consent	William Thomas Read (Father)
Date of Certificate	2 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev John Steven

2251

5 February 1903

Thomas How
Zenobia Alberta Evaline Perens

Thomas Low
Zenobia Alberta Evaline Ferens
💍 1903/1974

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

29
26

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
4 years

Wesleyan Church, Oamaru

03/1488

5 February 1903

Rev David McNicholl

No	2251
Date of Notice	5 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas How	Zenobia Alberta Evaline Perens
BDM Match (93%)	Thomas Low	Zenobia Alberta Evaline Ferens
	💍 1903/1974
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	4 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Oamaru
Folio	03/1488
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev David McNicholl

2252

9 February 1903

Thomas Francis Cahill
Kathleen Ford

Thomas Francis Cahill
Catherine Ford
💍 1903/3858

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Shunter

24
26

Oamaru
Oamaru

4 days
26 years

Roman Catholic Basilica, Oamaru

03/3201

9 February 1903

Rev Dean Mackay

No	2252
Date of Notice	9 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Francis Cahill	Kathleen Ford
BDM Match (82%)	Thomas Francis Cahill	Catherine Ford
	💍 1903/3858
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Shunter
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	4 days	26 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Basilica, Oamaru
Folio	03/3201
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev Dean Mackay

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).