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 729

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 March 1901 Registrar Arthur Hector Gore

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

1 January 1901

Henry Brock
Minnie Neilsen

Henry Brock
Minnie Neilsen
💍 1901/5808

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

24
19

Napier
Napier

24 years
19 years

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages Napier

01/377

1 January 1901

A. H. Gore, Registrar of Marriages

No	1
Date of Notice	1 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Brock	Minnie Neilsen
	💍 1901/5808
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	24 years	19 years
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages Napier
Folio	01/377
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 January 1901
Officiating Minister	A. H. Gore, Registrar of Marriages

3 January 1901

Walter John Stevens
Edith Compton

Walter John Stevens
Edith Jane Compton
💍 1901/1860

Bachelor
Widow

Coach-painter

32
31

Napier
Napier

20 years
3 years

At the Residence of Bride's parents Napier

01/2225

3 January 1901

Rev. W. G. Parsonson

No	2
Date of Notice	3 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter John Stevens	Edith Compton
BDM Match (86%)	Walter John Stevens	Edith Jane Compton
	💍 1901/1860
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Coach-painter
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	20 years	3 years
Marriage Place	At the Residence of Bride's parents Napier
Folio	01/2225
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Parsonson

4 January 1901

Harry Frits Fraser
Annie Horton

Harry Frits Fraser
Annie Horton
💍 1901/5809

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser

25
22

Napier
Napier

25 years
5 months

At the Office of the Registrar of Marriages Napier

01/378

4 January 1901

A. H. Gore, Registrar of Marriages

No	3
Date of Notice	4 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Frits Fraser	Annie Horton
	💍 1901/5809
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	25 years	5 months
Marriage Place	At the Office of the Registrar of Marriages Napier
Folio	01/378
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1901
Officiating Minister	A. H. Gore, Registrar of Marriages

10 January 1901

Esrom Augustus Baldwin
Margaret Ann Henry

Esrom Augustus Baldwin
Margaret Ann Henry
💍 1901/5867

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

28
26

Napier
Napier

3 years
1 year 6 months

At the Residence of the Rev. J. A. Asher

01/393

10 January 1901

Rev. J. A. Asher

No	4
Date of Notice	10 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Esrom Augustus Baldwin	Margaret Ann Henry
	💍 1901/5867
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 years	1 year 6 months
Marriage Place	At the Residence of the Rev. J. A. Asher
Folio	01/393
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher

15 January 1901

Bartholomew Kenneth
Jennie Parker Hutchinson

Bartholomew Steinmetz
Jennie Parker Hutchinson
💍 1901/5866

Bachelor
Spinster

Vine grower

31
29

Greenmeadows
Napier

9 years
8 years

In the Roman Catholic Church Meanee

01/392

15 January 1901

Rev. J. Binsfield

No	5
Date of Notice	15 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bartholomew Kenneth	Jennie Parker Hutchinson
BDM Match (88%)	Bartholomew Steinmetz	Jennie Parker Hutchinson
	💍 1901/5866
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Vine grower
Age	31	29
Dwelling Place	Greenmeadows	Napier
Length of Residence	9 years	8 years
Marriage Place	In the Roman Catholic Church Meanee
Folio	01/392
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Binsfield

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).