Intentions to Marry, 1901 North Island

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840419, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, September 22 2025

1901 is bound in two volumes, North Island districts and South Island districts.

Page 011

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1891 Registrar E. H. Lyons

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

3 January 1901

James Robert Back Carter
Ethel Amelia Sidmarch

James Robert Whitelaw
Ethel Hannah Tidmarsh
💍 1901/5635

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

25
19

Onehunga
Auckland

25 years
19 years

Registrar Office

01/8

Eva Fletcher, Legal Guardian

3 January 1901

E. H. Lyons, Registrar of Marriages

No	13
Date of Notice	3 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Robert Back Carter	Ethel Amelia Sidmarch
BDM Match (60%)	James Robert Whitelaw	Ethel Hannah Tidmarsh
	💍 1901/5635
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Onehunga	Auckland
Length of Residence	25 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Registrar Office
Folio	01/8
Consent	Eva Fletcher, Legal Guardian
Date of Certificate	3 January 1901
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar of Marriages

3 January 1901

Henry Back
Ellen Fogden

Henry Sherman
Ellen Foyden
💍 1901/5636

Divorcee

Labourer

37
32

Auckland
Auckland

3 days

Registrar Office

01/9

3 January 1901

E. H. Lyons, Registrar of Marriages

No	14
Date of Notice	3 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Back	Ellen Fogden
BDM Match (69%)	Henry Sherman	Ellen Foyden
	💍 1901/5636
Condition		Divorcee
Profession	Labourer
Age	37	32
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar Office
Folio	01/9
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1901
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar of Marriages

4 January 1901

George Frederick Back Leek
Elizabeth Jane Wade

George Frederick Leek
Elizabeth Theresa Wade
💍 1901/5618

Spinster

Carter

23
22

Auckland
Auckland

10 years
23 years

Registrar Office

01/11

4 January 1901

E. H. Lyons, Registrar of Marriages

No	15
Date of Notice	4 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Frederick Back Leek	Elizabeth Jane Wade
BDM Match (77%)	George Frederick Leek	Elizabeth Theresa Wade
	💍 1901/5618
Condition		Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Registrar Office
Folio	01/11
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1901
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar of Marriages

4 January 1901

Alexander Roulk Jenkins
Amy Bethingham

Alexander Rankin Jenkins
Amy Bellingham
💍 1901/5698

Spinster

Farmer

31
24

Auckland
Auckland

11 years
24 years

Wesleyan Church, East Tamaki

01/155

4 January 1901

Rev. C. J. Griffin, Wesleyan

No	16
Date of Notice	4 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Roulk Jenkins	Amy Bethingham
BDM Match (82%)	Alexander Rankin Jenkins	Amy Bellingham
	💍 1901/5698
Condition		Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	11 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, East Tamaki
Folio	01/155
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. J. Griffin, Wesleyan

4 January 1901

Koti iwi Ngaro Reu
Wai huia Wata

Koti i wi ugaro Reu
Wai huia Wata
💍 1901/5637

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

29
28

Auckland
Auckland

2 weeks
1 week

Registrar Office, Auckland

01/10

4 January 1901

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	17
Date of Notice	4 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Koti iwi Ngaro Reu	Wai huia Wata
BDM Match (95%)	Koti i wi ugaro Reu	Wai huia Wata
	💍 1901/5637
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 weeks	1 week
Marriage Place	Registrar Office, Auckland
Folio	01/10
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1901
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

4 January 1901

Arthur James Roach
Ada Milley

Arthur James Roach
Ada Willey
💍 1901/5665

Spinster

Engine Driver

26
27

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
3 days

Wesleyan Church, Pitt Street

01/139

4 January 1901

Rev. W. J. Williams, Wesleyan

No	18
Date of Notice	4 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur James Roach	Ada Milley
BDM Match (95%)	Arthur James Roach	Ada Willey
	💍 1901/5665
Condition		Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Pitt Street
Folio	01/139
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Williams, Wesleyan

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).