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 745

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

21 October 1901

Ernest Herbert Manning
Jane Little

Ernest Herbert Manning
Jane Little
💍 1901/4347

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

33
22

Pakowhai
Pakowhai

5 years
3 years

At the Residence of The Bride's parents Pakowhai

01/4899

21 October 1901

Rev C. Cromer

No	64
Date of Notice	21 October 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Herbert Manning	Jane Little
	💍 1901/4347
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	33	22
Dwelling Place	Pakowhai	Pakowhai
Length of Residence	5 years	3 years
Marriage Place	At the Residence of The Bride's parents Pakowhai
Folio	01/4899
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 October 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev C. Cromer

22 October 1901

Sydney Williams Broughman
Ada Hargreaves

Sydney Williams
Ada Hargreaves
💍 1901/4412

Bachelor
Spinster

Ploughman

21
20

Temuka
Napier

20 years
5 days

At the Residence of The Bride's parents Carlyle Street Napier

01/4889

Sarah Hargreaves, Mother

22 October 1901

Rev J.C. Martin

No	65
Date of Notice	22 October 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Williams Broughman	Ada Hargreaves
BDM Match (80%)	Sydney Williams	Ada Hargreaves
	💍 1901/4412
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ploughman
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Napier
Length of Residence	20 years	5 days
Marriage Place	At the Residence of The Bride's parents Carlyle Street Napier
Folio	01/4889
Consent	Sarah Hargreaves, Mother
Date of Certificate	22 October 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev J.C. Martin

24 October 1901

Benjamin Hobbins
Annie Charlton

Benjamin Hobbins
Annie Charlton
💍 1901/4822

Widower
Widow

Stationhand
Cook

48
45

Napier
Napier

5 years
1 week

In The Cathedral at Napier

01/5710

24 October 1901

Dean Hovell

No	66
Date of Notice	24 October 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin Hobbins	Annie Charlton
	💍 1901/4822
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Stationhand	Cook
Age	48	45
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 years	1 week
Marriage Place	In The Cathedral at Napier
Folio	01/5710
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 October 1901
Officiating Minister	Dean Hovell

24 October 1901

Frederick Alfred Brock
Jennie Munn

Frederick Alfred Brock
Jeannie Munn
💍 1901/4416

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
20

Western Spit
Napier

4 years
14 years

At the Residence of the Rev: H.W.J. Miller Napier

01/4892

Jane Munn, Mother

24 October 1901

Rev H.W.J. Miller

No	67
Date of Notice	24 October 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Alfred Brock	Jennie Munn
BDM Match (96%)	Frederick Alfred Brock	Jeannie Munn
	💍 1901/4416
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Western Spit	Napier
Length of Residence	4 years	14 years
Marriage Place	At the Residence of the Rev: H.W.J. Miller Napier
Folio	01/4892
Consent	Jane Munn, Mother
Date of Certificate	24 October 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev H.W.J. Miller

28 October 1901

Henry Adams Ferguson
Alexander Ena Fraser

Henry Alan Deynson
Alexander Ena Fraser
💍 1901/4329

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer

34
27

Ngaparauru
Napier

3 years
7 years

At the Residence of the Bride's parents Cooke Road Napier

01/4905

28 October 1901

Rev Robb Gardner

No	68
Date of Notice	28 October 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Adams Ferguson	Alexander Ena Fraser
BDM Match (83%)	Henry Alan Deynson	Alexander Ena Fraser
	💍 1901/4329
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer
Age	34	27
Dwelling Place	Ngaparauru	Napier
Length of Residence	3 years	7 years
Marriage Place	At the Residence of the Bride's parents Cooke Road Napier
Folio	01/4905
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 October 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev Robb Gardner

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).