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 039

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 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

175

15 March 1901

William Joseph Holokey
Grace Sobella Henton

William Joseph Hookey
Grace Isabella Henton
💍 1901/5727

Bachelor
Spinster

Drafter

25
23

Auckland
Mount Eden

6 years
23 years

House of Joshua

01/185

15 March 1901

Rev. B. L. Thomas, Congregational

No	175
Date of Notice	15 March 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Joseph Holokey	Grace Sobella Henton
BDM Match (91%)	William Joseph Hookey	Grace Isabella Henton
	💍 1901/5727
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Drafter
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Mount Eden
Length of Residence	6 years	23 years
Marriage Place	House of Joshua
Folio	01/185
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. L. Thomas, Congregational

176

15 March 1901

Frank Smith Andrews
Henrietta Mary Ellett

Frank Ernest Andrews
Henrietta Mary Ellett
💍 1901/5701

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

50
39

Mangere
Mangere

37 years
35 years

House of

01/177

15 March 1901

Rev. M. Kirkbride, Church of England

No	176
Date of Notice	15 March 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Smith Andrews	Henrietta Mary Ellett
BDM Match (85%)	Frank Ernest Andrews	Henrietta Mary Ellett
	💍 1901/5701
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	50	39
Dwelling Place	Mangere	Mangere
Length of Residence	37 years	35 years
Marriage Place	House of
Folio	01/177
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Kirkbride, Church of England

177

16 March 1901

Samuel Joseph Pearson
Sarah Henry

Samuel Joseph Pearson
Sarah Henry
💍 1901/1837

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

23
22

Auckland
Auckland

17 years
22 years

House of Mother of Bride, Victoria St.

01/2196

16 March 1901

Rev. R. F. Nancovich, Presbyterian

No	177
Date of Notice	16 March 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Joseph Pearson	Sarah Henry
	💍 1901/1837
BDM Match (83%)	Samuel Joseph Pearson	Sarah Henry
	💍 1901/1837
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	17 years	22 years
Marriage Place	House of Mother of Bride, Victoria St.
Folio	01/2196
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. F. Nancovich, Presbyterian

178

16 March 1901

John Alfred Osborne
Ellen Conway

John Alfred Charles Osborne
Ellen Conway
💍 1901/5538

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

27
26

Auckland
Auckland

27 years
26 years

Registrar's Office

01/53

16 March 1901

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	178
Date of Notice	16 March 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alfred Osborne	Ellen Conway
BDM Match (85%)	John Alfred Charles Osborne	Ellen Conway
	💍 1901/5538
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	27 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	01/53
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1901
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

179

19 March 1901

James Stillman Hardy
Kate Henrietta Bullen

James Stillman McHardy
Kate Henrietta Bullen
💍 1901/6178

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27
28

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
3 days

St. Andrew's Church

01/126

19 March 1901

Rev. H. B. Gray, Presbyterian

No	179
Date of Notice	19 March 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Stillman Hardy	Kate Henrietta Bullen
BDM Match (95%)	James Stillman McHardy	Kate Henrietta Bullen
	💍 1901/6178
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church
Folio	01/126
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. B. Gray, Presbyterian

180

19 March 1901

Robert Henry Neet
Mabel Sarah Cranwell

Robert Henry West
Mabel Sarah Cranwell
💍 1901/5982

Bachelor
Spinster

Fruit Grower

27
27

Henderson
Henderson

11 years
6 years

Wesleyan Church

01/196

19 March 1901

Rev. A. McLean, Presbyterian

No	180
Date of Notice	19 March 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Henry Neet	Mabel Sarah Cranwell
BDM Match (94%)	Robert Henry West	Mabel Sarah Cranwell
	💍 1901/5982
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fruit Grower
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Henderson	Henderson
Length of Residence	11 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church
Folio	01/196
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. McLean, Presbyterian

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).