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 951

District of Port Chalmers Quarter ending 31 March 1903 Registrar Thomas Hinchliff

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

7 January 1903

Lauritz Aberum Prache
Elizabeth Rasmussen

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman
Nil

28
20

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

1 year
10 years

Trinity Church, Port Chalmers

03/1400

J. Rasmussen, Father

7 January 1903

Rev. I. W. Kewley, Church of England

No	1
Date of Notice	7 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lauritz Aberum Prache	Elizabeth Rasmussen
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman	Nil
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	1 year	10 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Church, Port Chalmers
Folio	03/1400
Consent	J. Rasmussen, Father
Date of Certificate	7 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. W. Kewley, Church of England

21 January 1903

David Ewan
Margaret McInnes

David Ewan Fogo
Margaret McInnes
💍 1903/1922

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Tailoress

27
25

Port Chalmers
Milikiwaka

2 years
25 years

Manse, Christina McInnes, Milikiwaka

03/1401

C. McInnes

21 January 1903

Rev. C. Taylor, Congregational

No	2
Date of Notice	21 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Ewan	Margaret McInnes
BDM Match (83%)	David Ewan Fogo	Margaret McInnes
	💍 1903/1922
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Tailoress
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Milikiwaka
Length of Residence	2 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Manse, Christina McInnes, Milikiwaka
Folio	03/1401
Consent	C. McInnes
Date of Certificate	21 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Taylor, Congregational

27 January 1903

Alexander Douglas
Grace Elizabeth Boyd Davidson

Alexander Douglas
Grace Elizabeth Boyd Davidson
💍 1903/71

Bachelor
Spinster

Manager
Nil

47
37

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

3 days
3 years

On the premises, Lawyers May

03/1402

J. Davidson

27 January 1903

Rev. G. C. Tennent, Presbyterian

No	3
Date of Notice	27 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Douglas	Grace Elizabeth Boyd Davidson
	💍 1903/71
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Manager	Nil
Age	47	37
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	On the premises, Lawyers May
Folio	03/1402
Consent	J. Davidson
Date of Certificate	27 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. C. Tennent, Presbyterian

11 February 1903

John Benjamin Palmer
Mary Souter

John Benjamin Palmer
Mary Souter
💍 1903/1026

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Milliner

31
27

Port Chalmers
Dunedin

1 month
7 years

St. Andrews Church, Dunedin

03/1241

11 February 1903

Rev. R. Waddell, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	11 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Benjamin Palmer	Mary Souter
	💍 1903/1026
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Milliner
Age	31	27
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 month	7 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church, Dunedin
Folio	03/1241
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Waddell, Presbyterian

24 February 1903

John Methers
Mary Olive Quinn

John Methers
Mary Olive Quinn
💍 1903/82

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

26
21

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

18 years
2 months

House of James Methers, Port Chalmers

03/1403

24 February 1903

Rev. G. C. Tennent, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	24 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Methers	Mary Olive Quinn
	💍 1903/82
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	18 years	2 months
Marriage Place	House of James Methers, Port Chalmers
Folio	03/1403
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. C. Tennent, Presbyterian

25 March 1903

Isaac Alfred Peter
Esther Maude Thomas

Isaac Alfred Peters
Esther Hawes
💍 1903/3374

Bachelor
Spinster

Watchmaker
Dressmaker

24
22

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

2 years
2 years

Holy Trinity Church, Port Chalmers

03/3215

25 March 1903

Rev. I. W. Kewley, Church of England

No	6
Date of Notice	25 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Isaac Alfred Peter	Esther Maude Thomas
BDM Match (74%)	Isaac Alfred Peters	Esther Hawes
	💍 1903/3374
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Watchmaker	Dressmaker
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Port Chalmers
Folio	03/3215
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. W. Kewley, 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 1908. 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).