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 099

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 September 1890 Registrar Edmund 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

509

24 July 1901

John Clarence Back
Mary Ellen Grant

John Clarence Grant
Mary Ellen Kennedy
💍 1901/2926

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Driver

32
25

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
20 years

House of Rev. D. Laycock, 20 Wakefield Street

01/3392

24 July 1901

Rev. B. Laycock, Primitive Methodist

No	509
Date of Notice	24 July 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Clarence Back	Mary Ellen Grant
BDM Match (73%)	John Clarence Grant	Mary Ellen Kennedy
	💍 1901/2926
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Driver
Age	32	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	20 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. D. Laycock, 20 Wakefield Street
Folio	01/3392
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Laycock, Primitive Methodist

510

24 July 1901

Lionel George Back
Isabella May Molloy

Lionel George Jessup
Isabella May Molloy
💍 1901/2554

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
23

Auckland
Auckland

23 years
23 years

Registrar's Office

01/3032

24 July 1901

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	510
Date of Notice	24 July 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lionel George Back	Isabella May Molloy
BDM Match (85%)	Lionel George Jessup	Isabella May Molloy
	💍 1901/2554
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	23 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	01/3032
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1901
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

511

24 July 1901

Harry Leonard Jenkins
Delores Edith Amy Amanda Lomer

Harry Leonard Jenkins
Delores Edith Amy Amanda Lomer
💍 1901/6047

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

25
22

Auckland
Auckland

18 years
22 years

St. Matthew's Church

01/3614

24 July 1901

Rev. W. E. Fillan, Church of England

No	511
Date of Notice	24 July 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Leonard Jenkins	Delores Edith Amy Amanda Lomer
	💍 1901/6047
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	18 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church
Folio	01/3614
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Fillan, Church of England

512

24 July 1901

John McKinnery
Elizabeth Thwaites

John McKinney
Elizabeth Thwaites
💍 1901/2925

John Thwaites
Elizabeth Thwaites
💍 1902/374

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

29
28

Auckland
Auckland

12 years
28 years

House of Rev. W. Laycock, 28 Wakefield Street

01/3391

24 July 1901

Rev. W. Laycock, Primitive Methodist

No	512
Date of Notice	24 July 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McKinnery	Elizabeth Thwaites
BDM Match (96%)	John McKinney	Elizabeth Thwaites
	💍 1901/2925
BDM Match (71%)	John Thwaites	Elizabeth Thwaites
	💍 1902/374
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	12 years	28 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. W. Laycock, 28 Wakefield Street
Folio	01/3391
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Laycock, Primitive Methodist

513

25 July 1901

Walter Hope Richardson
Clara Katherine Leillia Dreafer

Walter Hope Richardson
Clara Katherine Lillia Deager
💍 1901/2913

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

32
21

Auckland
Auckland

32 years
10 years

House of Rev. F. S. Falla, 10 Willow Street

01/3380

25 July 1901

Rev. R. F. Macnicol, Presbyterian

No	513
Date of Notice	25 July 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Hope Richardson	Clara Katherine Leillia Dreafer
BDM Match (95%)	Walter Hope Richardson	Clara Katherine Lillia Deager
	💍 1901/2913
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	32 years	10 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. F. S. Falla, 10 Willow Street
Folio	01/3380
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. F. Macnicol, Presbyterian

514

25 July 1901

James Smith
Margaret Jane Langan

James Smith
Margaret Lanigan
💍 1901/2584

James Smith
Mary Jane Armstrong
💍 1901/3623

James Smith
Mary Judge
💍 1901/3695

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

32
24

Auckland
Auckland

30 years
27 years

Sacred Heart Church, Auckland

01/3083

25 July 1901

Very Rev. D. O. Egan, Roman Catholic

No	514
Date of Notice	25 July 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Smith	Margaret Jane Langan
BDM Match (85%)	James Smith	Margaret Lanigan
	💍 1901/2584
BDM Match (68%)	James Smith	Mary Jane Armstrong
	💍 1901/3623
BDM Match (65%)	James Smith	Mary Judge
	💍 1901/3695
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	30 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Church, Auckland
Folio	01/3083
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1901
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. D. O. Egan, Roman Catholic

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).