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 747

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 December 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

5 November 1901

William George Jarvis
Ellen Wise

William George Jarvis
Ellen Wira
💍 1901/4415

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener

25
25

Greenmeadows
Napier

25 years
2 years

Wesleyan Church, Greenmeadows

01/4891

5 November 1901

Rev. C. E. Beecroft

No	74
Date of Notice	5 November 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Jarvis	Ellen Wise
BDM Match (90%)	William George Jarvis	Ellen Wira
	💍 1901/4415
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Greenmeadows	Napier
Length of Residence	25 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Greenmeadows
Folio	01/4891
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 November 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. E. Beecroft

11 November 1901

Philip James Brown
Florence Sellar

Philip James Brown
Florence Sellar
💍 1901/4351

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

24
23

Taradale
Napier

24 years
23 years

All Saints Church, Taradale

01/4903

11 November 1901

Rev. A. H. Clarke

No	75
Date of Notice	11 November 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip James Brown	Florence Sellar
	💍 1901/4351
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Taradale	Napier
Length of Residence	24 years	23 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Taradale
Folio	01/4903
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 November 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Clarke

12 November 1901

Joseph Henry Edmundson
Annie Isabella Dolbel

Joseph Henry Ednantra
Annie Isabella Dolbel
💍 1901/4352

Bachelor
Spinster

Manager of Cycle Works

26
22

Napier
Napier

5 years
22 years

Residence of The Bride's parents, Havelock Rd, Napier

01/4904

12 November 1901

Rev. J. A. Asher

No	76
Date of Notice	12 November 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Henry Edmundson	Annie Isabella Dolbel
BDM Match (86%)	Joseph Henry Ednantra	Annie Isabella Dolbel
	💍 1901/4352
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Manager of Cycle Works
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of The Bride's parents, Havelock Rd, Napier
Folio	01/4904
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 November 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher

12 November 1901

Samuel Gregory Skews
Hermina Israelson

Samuel Gregory Skews
Hermina Israelsen
💍 1901/4349

Widower
Spinster

Farmer

39
23

Pakowhai
Papakura

3 years
12 months

Residence of Mr Peter Ericksen, Papakura

01/4901

12 November 1901

Rev. Chas. Comrie

No	77
Date of Notice	12 November 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Gregory Skews	Hermina Israelson
BDM Match (97%)	Samuel Gregory Skews	Hermina Israelsen
	💍 1901/4349
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	39	23
Dwelling Place	Pakowhai	Papakura
Length of Residence	3 years	12 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Peter Ericksen, Papakura
Folio	01/4901
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 November 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. Chas. Comrie

15 November 1901

William McLeod
Marion Clark

William McLeod
Marion Clark
💍 1901/4408

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

31
25

Wairarapa, Napier
Wairarapa, Napier

3 years 3 days
2 years 14 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Napier

01/4885

15 November 1901

A. H. Gore, Registrar

No	78
Date of Notice	15 November 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McLeod	Marion Clark
	💍 1901/4408
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Wairarapa, Napier	Wairarapa, Napier
Length of Residence	3 years 3 days	2 years 14 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Napier
Folio	01/4885
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 November 1901
Officiating Minister	A. H. Gore, Registrar

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).