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 076

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 June 1901

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

380

3 June 1901

Edward Stephen Back
Jessie Langley Meldrum

Edward Stephen Langley
Jessie Meldrum
💍 1901/5916

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

24
24

Auckland
Auckland

24 years
24 years

St. Matthew's Church

01/1414

3 June 1901

Rev. W. E. Pillans, Church of England

No	380
Date of Notice	3 June 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Stephen Back	Jessie Langley Meldrum
BDM Match (68%)	Edward Stephen Langley	Jessie Meldrum
	💍 1901/5916
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	24 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church
Folio	01/1414
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 June 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Pillans, Church of England

381

4 June 1901

James Lawrence Davis
Emily Joffe

James Lawrence Davis
Emily Soffe
💍 1901/1183

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

26
30

Auckland
Auckland

23 years
[illegible]

Primitive Methodist Church, Pitt & Edward Streets

01/1510

4 June 1901

Rev. C. C. Harrison, Primitive Methodist

No	381
Date of Notice	4 June 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Lawrence Davis	Emily Joffe
BDM Match (95%)	James Lawrence Davis	Emily Soffe
	💍 1901/1183
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	26	30
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	23 years	[illegible]
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Pitt & Edward Streets
Folio	01/1510
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. C. Harrison, Primitive Methodist

382

4 June 1901

Thomas Whitford
Henrietta Holland Hitchens

Thomas Whitford
Henrietta Holland Hitchens
💍 1901/6101

Bachelor
Spinster

Fish Merchant

22
17

Auckland
Auckland

14 years
14 years

House of Father of Bride

01/1727

Henry Hitchens, father of bride

4 June 1901

Rev. R. Sommerville, Presbyterian

No	382
Date of Notice	4 June 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Whitford	Henrietta Holland Hitchens
	💍 1901/6101
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fish Merchant
Age	22	17
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	14 years	14 years
Marriage Place	House of Father of Bride
Folio	01/1727
Consent	Henry Hitchens, father of bride
Date of Certificate	4 June 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Sommerville, Presbyterian

384

4 June 1901

Arthur Edward Benner
Kate Tarry

Arthur Edward Benner
Kate Tarry
💍 1901/5914

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

30
30

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
5 years

St. Matthew's Church

01/1718

4 June 1901

Rev. H. J. Davies, Church of England

No	384
Date of Notice	4 June 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Edward Benner	Kate Tarry
	💍 1901/5914
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church
Folio	01/1718
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Davies, Church of England

385

4 June 1901

John George Hassall
Mary Ann Egan

John George Hassall
Mary Ann Egan
💍 1901/2580

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

25
21

Auckland
Auckland

25 years
21 years

Church of the Sacred Heart, Ponsonby

01/3079

4 June 1901

Rev. D. O. Egan, Roman Catholic

No	385
Date of Notice	4 June 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John George Hassall	Mary Ann Egan
	💍 1901/2580
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	25 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Church of the Sacred Heart, Ponsonby
Folio	01/3079
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. O. Egan, Roman Catholic

388

4 June 1901

John Fitzpatrick
Margaret Hennig

John Fitzpatrick
Margaret Eileen Henning
💍 1901/61

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32
27

Pukuranga
Penrose

32 years
27 years

St. Patrick's Cathedral

01/1485

4 June 1901

Rev. J. T. Patterson, Roman Catholic

No	388
Date of Notice	4 June 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Fitzpatrick	Margaret Hennig
BDM Match (83%)	John Fitzpatrick	Margaret Eileen Henning
	💍 1901/61
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	27
Dwelling Place	Pukuranga	Penrose
Length of Residence	32 years	27 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Cathedral
Folio	01/1485
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. T. Patterson, 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).