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 022

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1901 Registrar E. H. Ryous

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

28 January 1901

Robert Whiteman
Margaret Mary Speece

Robert Whitson
Margaret Mary Leece
💍 1901/5537

Bachelor

Engineer

26
26

Auckland
Auckland

20 years
5 years

St. Mary's Cathedral, Auckland

01/95

28 January 1901

Rev. F. W. Young, Church of England

No	73
Date of Notice	28 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Whiteman	Margaret Mary Speece
BDM Match (85%)	Robert Whitson	Margaret Mary Leece
	💍 1901/5537
Condition	Bachelor
Profession	Engineer
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	20 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Cathedral, Auckland
Folio	01/95
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. W. Young, Church of England

29 January 1901

William Jeremiah Hartley
Nellie Beturich Kernot

William Jeremiah Hartley
Nellie Betmead Kernot
💍 1901/5531

Bachelor

Baker

23
24

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
2 years

St. Paul's Church, Auckland

01/90

29 January 1901

Rev. C. M. Helson, Church of England

No	74
Date of Notice	29 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Jeremiah Hartley	Nellie Beturich Kernot
BDM Match (89%)	William Jeremiah Hartley	Nellie Betmead Kernot
	💍 1901/5531
Condition	Bachelor
Profession	Baker
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Auckland
Folio	01/90
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. M. Helson, Church of England

30 January 1901

James Ainsley Johnston
Elizabeth Open Walker

James Ainsley Johnston
Elizabeth Walker
💍 1901/5836

Bachelor

Storeman

31
31

Auckland
Auckland

2 years
12 years

House of E. H. Dicken, 12 Wellington Street

01/119

30 January 1901

Rev. B. Sommerville, Presbyterian

No	75
Date of Notice	30 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Ainsley Johnston	Elizabeth Open Walker
BDM Match (88%)	James Ainsley Johnston	Elizabeth Walker
	💍 1901/5836
Condition	Bachelor
Profession	Storeman
Age	31	31
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	12 years
Marriage Place	House of E. H. Dicken, 12 Wellington Street
Folio	01/119
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Sommerville, Presbyterian

30 January 1901

Charles Laurence Kirk
Frances Spin Kirk

Charles Lawrence
Frances Kirk
💍 1901/6182

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

33
24

Auckland
Onehunga

3 days
5 years

Wesleyan Church, Onehunga

01/156

30 January 1901

Rev. C. P. Fiffin, Wesleyan

No	76
Date of Notice	30 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Laurence Kirk	Frances Spin Kirk
BDM Match (71%)	Charles Lawrence	Frances Kirk
	💍 1901/6182
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Onehunga
Length of Residence	3 days	5 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Onehunga
Folio	01/156
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. P. Fiffin, Wesleyan

31 January 1901

Gibson Smith
Catherine Maxwell Pen Moyes

Tilson Smith
Euphemia Maxwell Moyes
💍 1901/6192

Divorced

Chemist

39
30

Onehunga
Riccarton

3 days
1 year

House of H. A. E. R. Martin

01/500

31 January 1901

Rev. D. Fordon, Presbyterian

No	77
Date of Notice	31 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gibson Smith	Catherine Maxwell Pen Moyes
BDM Match (73%)	Tilson Smith	Euphemia Maxwell Moyes
	💍 1901/6192
Condition	Divorced
Profession	Chemist
Age	39	30
Dwelling Place	Onehunga	Riccarton
Length of Residence	3 days	1 year
Marriage Place	House of H. A. E. R. Martin
Folio	01/500
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Fordon, Presbyterian

31 January 1901

Edmund William Gibson Smith
Margaret Emily Leavers Callaghan

Edmund Williams Gibson-Smith
Margaret Emily Leanore Callaghan
💍 1901/5844

Bachelor

Coach Driver

25
25

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
3 years

St. Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland

01/103

31 January 1901

Rev. W. H. Corcoran, Roman Catholic

No	78
Date of Notice	31 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmund William Gibson Smith	Margaret Emily Leavers Callaghan
BDM Match (92%)	Edmund Williams Gibson-Smith	Margaret Emily Leanore Callaghan
	💍 1901/5844
Condition	Bachelor
Profession	Coach Driver
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland
Folio	01/103
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Corcoran, Roman Catholic

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).