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 010

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

3 January 1901

Isaac Owsley
Margaret Annie Lynnburn

Isaac Owsley
Margaret Annie Lymburn
💍 1901/5671

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

30
24

Auckland
Auckland

19 years
19 years

Primitive Methodist Church, 19 Pitt Street

01/146

3 January 1901

Rev. H. Williams, Primitive Methodist

No	7
Date of Notice	3 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Isaac Owsley	Margaret Annie Lynnburn
BDM Match (96%)	Isaac Owsley	Margaret Annie Lymburn
	💍 1901/5671
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	19 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, 19 Pitt Street
Folio	01/146
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Williams, Primitive Methodist

3 January 1901

Charles Cardinal Sainty
Mary Jane Sainty (Commonly known as Francis)

Charles Cardinal Sainty
Mary Jane Francis
💍 1901/5682

Bachelor
Spinster

29
26

Auckland
Auckland

28 years
28 years

House of R. Salter, 26 Hayden Street, Auckland

01/132

3 January 1901

Rev. R. Fenwick, Presbyterian

No	8
Date of Notice	3 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Cardinal Sainty	Mary Jane Sainty (Commonly known as Francis)
BDM Match (69%)	Charles Cardinal Sainty	Mary Jane Francis
	💍 1901/5682
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	28 years	28 years
Marriage Place	House of R. Salter, 26 Hayden Street, Auckland
Folio	01/132
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Fenwick, Presbyterian

3 January 1901

Donald Banks
Teresa Charlotte Coffey

Donald Banks
Teresa Charlotta Coffey
💍 1901/5850

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

28
29

Auckland
Auckland

10 days
10 days

Roman Catholic Church, Onehunga

01/109

3 January 1901

Rev. J. Paul, Roman Catholic

No	9
Date of Notice	3 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Banks	Teresa Charlotte Coffey
BDM Match (98%)	Donald Banks	Teresa Charlotta Coffey
	💍 1901/5850
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 days	10 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Onehunga
Folio	01/109
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paul, Roman Catholic

3 January 1901

John Waterhouse
Elizabeth Ann Lawry

John Waterhouse
Elizabeth Anna Lawry
💍 1901/5693

Widower
Spinster

School Teacher

48
42

Auckland
Auckland

10 days
10 days

House of Father K. Carlton

01/169

3 January 1901

Rev. H.H. Lawry, Wesleyan

No	10
Date of Notice	3 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Waterhouse	Elizabeth Ann Lawry
BDM Match (98%)	John Waterhouse	Elizabeth Anna Lawry
	💍 1901/5693
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	School Teacher
Age	48	42
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 days	10 days
Marriage Place	House of Father K. Carlton
Folio	01/169
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. H.H. Lawry, Wesleyan

3 January 1901

Thomas Charles Hamilton Heath
Mary Florence Smytheman

Thomas Charles Hamilton Heath
May Florence Smytheman
💍 1901/5523

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
22

Auckland
Auckland

16 years
16 years

St. Matthew's Church, Auckland

01/61

3 January 1901

Rev. W.E. Fillan, Church of England

No	11
Date of Notice	3 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Charles Hamilton Heath	Mary Florence Smytheman
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Charles Hamilton Heath	May Florence Smytheman
	💍 1901/5523
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	16 years	16 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Auckland
Folio	01/61
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. W.E. Fillan, Church of England

3 January 1901

John Mathieson
Mary Ann Frear

John Mathieson
Mary Ann Frear
💍 1901/5709

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

27
35

Auckland
Auckland

2 months
2 months

House of Mrs. Larkin, 15 Vincent Street

01/162

3 January 1901

Rev. W. Laycock, Primitive Methodist

No	12
Date of Notice	3 January 1901
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Mathieson	Mary Ann Frear
	💍 1901/5709
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	27	35
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 months	2 months
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. Larkin, 15 Vincent Street
Folio	01/162
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1901
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Laycock, Primitive Methodist

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).