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 797

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1903 Registrar J. J. Peter

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

19 January 1903

John Heard
Ida Jung

Norbert John Keane
Ida Jung
💍 1903/1838

Bachelor
Spinster

Smelter
Domestic

30
56

Dee Street, Invercargill
Clyde Street, Invercargill

7 months
7 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

03/1325

19 January 1903

Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

No	8
Date of Notice	19 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Heard	Ida Jung
BDM Match (69%)	Norbert John Keane	Ida Jung
	💍 1903/1838
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Smelter	Domestic
Age	30	56
Dwelling Place	Dee Street, Invercargill	Clyde Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	7 months	7 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill
Folio	03/1325
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

19 January 1903

David Brown
Annie Myers

Maurice David Wilkie
Annie Myers
💍 1903/1835

Bachelor
Spinster

Traveller
Domestic

24
22

Nailkui, Invercargill
Nailkui, Invercargill

5 days
22 years

English Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

03/1345

19 January 1903

The Ven. Archdeacon Stocker

No	9
Date of Notice	19 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Brown	Annie Myers
BDM Match (65%)	Maurice David Wilkie	Annie Myers
	💍 1903/1835
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Traveller	Domestic
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Nailkui, Invercargill	Nailkui, Invercargill
Length of Residence	5 days	22 years
Marriage Place	English Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	03/1345
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1903
Officiating Minister	The Ven. Archdeacon Stocker

25 January 1903

Thomas Logan
Margaret Campbell

Thomas Logan
Margaret Campbell Logan
💍 1903/1844

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

40
28

Strathern, Invercargill
Strathern, Invercargill

3 days
2 days

Residence of Malcolm Robertson, Elles Road, Strathern, Invercargill

03/1356

25 January 1903

Rev. Walter G. McLaren

No	10
Date of Notice	25 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Logan	Margaret Campbell
BDM Match (87%)	Thomas Logan	Margaret Campbell Logan
	💍 1903/1844
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	40	28
Dwelling Place	Strathern, Invercargill	Strathern, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	2 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Malcolm Robertson, Elles Road, Strathern, Invercargill
Folio	03/1356
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. Walter G. McLaren

28 January 1903

James Young
Sabina Gray

James Young
Simina Fraser Gray
💍 1903/1848

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic

26
25

Waimanu, Invercargill
Wallace Town, Invercargill

29 years
25 years

Presbyterian Church, Wallace Town, Invercargill

03/1360

28 January 1903

Rev. William White

No	11
Date of Notice	28 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Young	Sabina Gray
BDM Match (75%)	James Young	Simina Fraser Gray
	💍 1903/1848
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Waimanu, Invercargill	Wallace Town, Invercargill
Length of Residence	29 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Wallace Town, Invercargill
Folio	03/1360
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. William White

30 January 1903

Samuel Knock
Esther Louisa Elizabeth William

Samuel Knock
Esther Louisa Elizabeth Williams
💍 1903/1839

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

67
41

Spey Street, Invercargill
Esk Street, Invercargill

3 days
3 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

03/1326

30 January 1903

Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

No	12
Date of Notice	30 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Knock	Esther Louisa Elizabeth William
BDM Match (98%)	Samuel Knock	Esther Louisa Elizabeth Williams
	💍 1903/1839
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	67	41
Dwelling Place	Spey Street, Invercargill	Esk Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill
Folio	03/1326
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

31 January 1903

James Young
Jemima Gray

James Young
Simina Fraser Gray
💍 1903/1848

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic

26
25

Waimanu, Invercargill
Wallace Town, Invercargill

29 years
25 years

Presbyterian Church, Wallace Town, Invercargill

See Entry 11

31 January 1903

Rev. William White

No	13
Date of Notice	31 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Young	Jemima Gray
BDM Match (72%)	James Young	Simina Fraser Gray
	💍 1903/1848
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Waimanu, Invercargill	Wallace Town, Invercargill
Length of Residence	29 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Wallace Town, Invercargill
Folio	See Entry 11
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. William White

2 February 1903

Edmund Umfreville
Grace Broad

Edmund Oxenbridge
Grace Stroud
💍 1903/1852

Widower
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic

42
34

Tuapuri, Invercargill
Esk Street, Invercargill

2 years
19 years

Residence of Jane Broad, Esk Street, Invercargill

03/1364

2 February 1903

Rev. T. A. Ryburn

No	14
Date of Notice	2 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmund Umfreville	Grace Broad
BDM Match (64%)	Edmund Oxenbridge	Grace Stroud
	💍 1903/1852
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic
Age	42	34
Dwelling Place	Tuapuri, Invercargill	Esk Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Jane Broad, Esk Street, Invercargill
Folio	03/1364
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. A. Ryburn

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).