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 251

District of Hamilton Quarter ending 30 September 1901 Registrar Thomas Kirk

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

15 July 1901

Christopher Warwood
Mary Evelyn Limmer

Christopher Marwood
May Evelyn Limmer
💍 1901/2841

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

29
18

Whata Whata
Whata Whata

3 Years
since birth Whata Whata

In the Church of England

01/3252

15 July 1901

Rev. Henry, S.A. Major Church of England

No	15
Date of Notice	15 July 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Christopher Warwood	Mary Evelyn Limmer
BDM Match (95%)	Christopher Marwood	May Evelyn Limmer
	💍 1901/2841
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29	18
Dwelling Place	Whata Whata	Whata Whata
Length of Residence	3 Years	since birth Whata Whata
Marriage Place	In the Church of England
Folio	01/3252
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. Henry, S.A. Major Church of England

22 July 1901

Lewis Charles Limmer
Margaret Miller

Lewis Charles Limmer
Margaret Miller
💍 1901/5130

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23
22

Whata Whata
Pukete near Ngaruawahia

5 Years
since birth Ngaruawahia

In the Church of England

01/5741

22 July 1901

Rev. Harry Mason Church of England

No	16
Date of Notice	22 July 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lewis Charles Limmer	Margaret Miller
	💍 1901/5130
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Whata Whata	Pukete near Ngaruawahia
Length of Residence	5 Years	since birth Ngaruawahia
Marriage Place	In the Church of England
Folio	01/5741
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. Harry Mason Church of England

26 July 1901

Frederick William Pope
Emily Charleston

Frederick William Pope
Emily Charleston
💍 1901/2840

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver

30
28

Taupiri
Whata Whata

9 months
14 Years

In the Office of the Registrar at Hamilton

01/3251

26 July 1901

Thomas Kirk Registrar

No	17
Date of Notice	26 July 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Pope	Emily Charleston
	💍 1901/2840
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Taupiri	Whata Whata
Length of Residence	9 months	14 Years
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar at Hamilton
Folio	01/3251
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1901
Officiating Minister	Thomas Kirk Registrar

9 August 1901

David Pretty
Isabella Smith

David Pretty
Isabella Smith
💍 1901/2842

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

22
26

Hamilton
Hamilton

2 years
since birth

In St. Peters Episcopal Church at Hamilton

01/3253

9 August 1901

Rev. Henry, S.A. Major Church of England

No	18
Date of Notice	9 August 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Pretty	Isabella Smith
	💍 1901/2842
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	22	26
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	2 years	since birth
Marriage Place	In St. Peters Episcopal Church at Hamilton
Folio	01/3253
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 August 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. Henry, S.A. Major Church of England

3 September 1901

William Glasson Phillips
Catherine Cranston

William Glasson Phillipps
Catherine Crauston
💍 1901/2843

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
25

Newstead near Hamilton
Newstead near Hamilton

3 days
1 or 2 Years

In the house of Mr. Arthur Cranston at Newstead near Hamilton

01/3254

3 September 1901

Rev. Henry, S.A. Major Church of England

No	19
Date of Notice	3 September 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Glasson Phillips	Catherine Cranston
BDM Match (95%)	William Glasson Phillipps	Catherine Crauston
	💍 1901/2843
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Newstead near Hamilton	Newstead near Hamilton
Length of Residence	3 days	1 or 2 Years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Arthur Cranston at Newstead near Hamilton
Folio	01/3254
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 September 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. Henry, S.A. Major Church of England

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).