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 965

District of Riverton Quarter ending 30 June 1903 Registrar Alexander George Askley

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

607

1 April 1903

Edward Albert Trail
Frances Sophia Campbell

Edward Albert Trail
Frances Sophia Campbell
💍 1903/3361

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmill Proprietor
Domestic duties

24
22

Riverton
Riverton

24 years
22 years

at the Anglican Church

03/3227

1 April 1903

Reverend G. W. Davidson

No	607
Date of Notice	1 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Albert Trail	Frances Sophia Campbell
	💍 1903/3361
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmill Proprietor	Domestic duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Riverton	Riverton
Length of Residence	24 years	22 years
Marriage Place	at the Anglican Church
Folio	03/3227
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1903
Officiating Minister	Reverend G. W. Davidson

608

9 April 1903

William Patrick Anderson
Catherine Wood

Martin P Anderson
Catherine Wood
💍 1903/3356

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

22
27

Riverton
Riverton

22 years
5 weeks South Riverton

at the residence of Mr. W. Anderson

03/3221

9 April 1903

Rev. John Sheehan

No	608
Date of Notice	9 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Patrick Anderson	Catherine Wood
BDM Match (75%)	Martin P Anderson	Catherine Wood
	💍 1903/3356
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	22	27
Dwelling Place	Riverton	Riverton
Length of Residence	22 years	5 weeks South Riverton
Marriage Place	at the residence of Mr. W. Anderson
Folio	03/3221
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Sheehan

609

9 April 1903

Archibald McEwan
Jane Mary Phillips

Archibald McEwan
Jane Mary Phillips
💍 1903/3358

Bachelor
Spinster

Brushman
Domestic duties

24
20

Colac Bay
Colac Bay

3 years
20 years Colac

at the Presbyterian Church

03/3223

9 April 1903

Rev. R. McCully

No	609
Date of Notice	9 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald McEwan	Jane Mary Phillips
	💍 1903/3358
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brushman	Domestic duties
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Colac Bay	Colac Bay
Length of Residence	3 years	20 years Colac
Marriage Place	at the Presbyterian Church
Folio	03/3223
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. McCully

650

11 April 1903

John Murray
Jessie Alice Brown

John Murray
Jessie Alice Brown
💍 1903/3360

Bachelor
Spinster

Coal Merchant
Domestic duties

34
25

Invercargill
Thornbury, Southland

34 years
25 years Thornbury, Southland

at the house of Mrs. Murray, Thornbury District

03/3226

11 April 1903

Rev. G. W. Davidson

No	650
Date of Notice	11 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Murray	Jessie Alice Brown
	💍 1903/3360
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coal Merchant	Domestic duties
Age	34	25
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Thornbury, Southland
Length of Residence	34 years	25 years Thornbury, Southland
Marriage Place	at the house of Mrs. Murray, Thornbury District
Folio	03/3226
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Davidson

651

15 April 1903

Robert Fleck
Lily Fletcher

Robert Fleck
Lily Fletcher
💍 1903/3359

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

30
26

Riverton
Thornbury

30 years
26 years

at the residence of Mr. Peter Fletcher

03/3224

15 April 1903

Rev. Robt. McCully

No	651
Date of Notice	15 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Fleck	Lily Fletcher
	💍 1903/3359
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Riverton	Thornbury
Length of Residence	30 years	26 years
Marriage Place	at the residence of Mr. Peter Fletcher
Folio	03/3224
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robt. McCully

652

20 April 1903

Hugh Conkin
Catherine McGuire

Albert Coombs
Catherine McGuire
💍 1903/940

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

32
29

Round Hill, Southland
Colac Bay, Southland

9 months
3 years Riverton

at the Roman Catholic Church

03/3222

20 April 1903

Rev. Father Sheehan

No	652
Date of Notice	20 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Conkin	Catherine McGuire
BDM Match (62%)	Albert Coombs	Catherine McGuire
	💍 1903/940
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	32	29
Dwelling Place	Round Hill, Southland	Colac Bay, Southland
Length of Residence	9 months	3 years Riverton
Marriage Place	at the Roman Catholic Church
Folio	03/3222
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 April 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Sheehan

653

23 June 1903

William Rielly
Mary Marshall Frew

William Richards
Mary Marshall Frew
💍 1903/3362

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

36
29

Riverton
Clifton Bush, Southland

20 years
29 years Clifton

at Mr. Frew's home

03/3228

23 June 1903

Rev. Fredk. W. Boys

No	653
Date of Notice	23 June 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Rielly	Mary Marshall Frew
BDM Match (81%)	William Richards	Mary Marshall Frew
	💍 1903/3362
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	36	29
Dwelling Place	Riverton	Clifton Bush, Southland
Length of Residence	20 years	29 years Clifton
Marriage Place	at Mr. Frew's home
Folio	03/3228
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 June 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. Fredk. W. Boys

654

23 June 1903

Andrew Blain Jr.
Catherine Elizabeth Hamishaw

Widower
Divorced

Farmer
Domestic duties

29
29

Isla Bank
Thornbury

6 years
29 years Thornbury

at the house of Mrs. Hamilton

03/3225

Divorce order produced, absolute by Registrar

23 June 1903

Rev. Robt. McCully

No	654
Date of Notice	23 June 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Blain Jr.	Catherine Elizabeth Hamishaw
Condition	Widower	Divorced
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Isla Bank	Thornbury
Length of Residence	6 years	29 years Thornbury
Marriage Place	at the house of Mrs. Hamilton
Folio	03/3225
Consent	Divorce order produced, absolute by Registrar
Date of Certificate	23 June 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robt. McCully

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).