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 1013

District of Waikouaiti Quarter ending 31 March 1903 Registrar E. Davis

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

26 January 1903

Frederick Herbert Ward
Ellen Jones

Frederick Herbert Ward
Ellen Jones
💍 1903/1960

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer

23
20

Waikouaiti
Flag Swamp

10 years
20 years

St. John's Church, Waikouaiti

03/1497

John Jones, father

26 January 1903

Rev. C. A. Fraser, Anglican

No	47
Date of Notice	26 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Herbert Ward	Ellen Jones
	💍 1903/1960
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Waikouaiti	Flag Swamp
Length of Residence	10 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Waikouaiti
Folio	03/1497
Consent	John Jones, father
Date of Certificate	26 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Fraser, Anglican

26 January 1903

Ben Witt Fell
Jane McMinn Christie

Ben Witt Fell
Jane McMinn Christie
💍 1903/1791

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

28
32

Waikouaiti
Roslyn

28 years
6 months

House of Rev. John Christie, Roslyn

03/1256

26 January 1903

Rev. R. R. M. Sutherland, Presbyterian

No	48
Date of Notice	26 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ben Witt Fell	Jane McMinn Christie
	💍 1903/1791
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	28	32
Dwelling Place	Waikouaiti	Roslyn
Length of Residence	28 years	6 months
Marriage Place	House of Rev. John Christie, Roslyn
Folio	03/1256
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. R. M. Sutherland, Presbyterian

26 January 1903

Henry Townsend
Maud Eyre Dawson

Henry Townsend
Maud Eyre Dawson
💍 1903/1106

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Teacher

35
30

Tawai
Dunedin

3 months
6 months

St. Matthew's Church, Dunedin

03/1222

26 January 1903

Rev. C. A. Fraser, Anglican

No	49
Date of Notice	26 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Townsend	Maud Eyre Dawson
	💍 1903/1106
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Teacher
Age	35	30
Dwelling Place	Tawai	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 months	6 months
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Dunedin
Folio	03/1222
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Fraser, Anglican

4 February 1903

John Arthur Stringer
Margaret Johnston

John Arthur Stringer
Margaret Johnston
💍 1903/5145

Bachelor
Spinster

Produce Dealer

28
24

Waikouaiti
Waikouaiti

26 years
24 years

House of Mr. S. Thomas, Johnston, Waikouaiti

03/1493

4 February 1903

Rev. G. H. Mason, Primitive Methodist

No	50
Date of Notice	4 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Arthur Stringer	Margaret Johnston
	💍 1903/5145
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Produce Dealer
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Waikouaiti	Waikouaiti
Length of Residence	26 years	24 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. S. Thomas, Johnston, Waikouaiti
Folio	03/1493
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Mason, Primitive Methodist

26 March 1903

Thomas Benjamin Graves
Margaret Ethel Kenward

Thomas Benjamin Graves
Margaret Ethel Kenward
💍 1903/81

Widower
Spinster

Painter
Dressmaker

47
27

Waikouaiti
Waikouaiti

5 days
3 months

House of Mr. J. R. Kenward, Waikouaiti

03/1421

26 March 1903

Rev. Thomas Coatsworth, Primitive Methodist

No	51
Date of Notice	26 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Benjamin Graves	Margaret Ethel Kenward
	💍 1903/81
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Dressmaker
Age	47	27
Dwelling Place	Waikouaiti	Waikouaiti
Length of Residence	5 days	3 months
Marriage Place	House of Mr. J. R. Kenward, Waikouaiti
Folio	03/1421
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Coatsworth, Primitive Methodist

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).