Intentions to Marry, 1902 North Island

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840421, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, October 3 2025

1902 is bound in two volumes, North Island districts and South Island districts.

Page 229

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 31 December 1902 Registrar Robert North Keeling

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

25 October 1902

Patrick Joseph Griffin
Florence Hunt

Patrick Joseph Griffin
Florence Hunt
💍 1902/5063

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotelkeeper

27 years
22 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
3 days

At the office of the Registrar Palmerston North

02/5171

25 October 1902

Robt. N. Keeling Registrar Palmerston North

No	79
Date of Notice	25 October 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Joseph Griffin	Florence Hunt
	💍 1902/5063
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotelkeeper
Age	27 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar Palmerston North
Folio	02/5171
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 October 1902
Officiating Minister	Robt. N. Keeling Registrar Palmerston North

25 October 1902

Harry Wallis Bliss Cox
Alice Woods

Harry Walter Bliss Cox
Alice Woods
💍 1902/6243

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

34 years
20 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

12 years
5 years

At St. Patrick's Church Palmerston North

02/6382

Margaret Woods Mother

25 October 1902

Rev P. W. Symons C.P. Palmerston North

No	80
Date of Notice	25 October 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Wallis Bliss Cox	Alice Woods
BDM Match (93%)	Harry Walter Bliss Cox	Alice Woods
	💍 1902/6243
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	34 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	12 years	5 years
Marriage Place	At St. Patrick's Church Palmerston North
Folio	02/6382
Consent	Margaret Woods Mother
Date of Certificate	25 October 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev P. W. Symons C.P. Palmerston North

27 October 1902

Thomas Bernard Winter
Sena Hansen

Thomas Bernard Winter
Gena Hansen
💍 1902/5076

Bachelor
Spinster

Cordial Manufacturer & Driver

21 years
23 years

Palmerston North
Rangitikei Road Palmerston North

3 years
23 years

All Saints Church Palmerston North

02/5183

27 October 1902

Rev C. C. Harper Anglican Minister Palmerston North

No	81
Date of Notice	27 October 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Bernard Winter	Sena Hansen
BDM Match (95%)	Thomas Bernard Winter	Gena Hansen
	💍 1902/5076
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cordial Manufacturer & Driver
Age	21 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Rangitikei Road Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 years	23 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church Palmerston North
Folio	02/5183
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 October 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev C. C. Harper Anglican Minister Palmerston North

5 November 1902

George William Braddell
Minnie Mary Roberts

George William Braddell
Minnie Mary Roberts
💍 1902/5077

Bachelor
Spinster

Prison Warder

24 years
25 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

4 days
1 year

All Saints Church Palmerston North

02/5784

5 November 1902

Rev C. C. Harper Anglican Minister Palmerston North

No	82
Date of Notice	5 November 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Braddell	Minnie Mary Roberts
	💍 1902/5077
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Prison Warder
Age	24 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	4 days	1 year
Marriage Place	All Saints Church Palmerston North
Folio	02/5784
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 November 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev C. C. Harper Anglican Minister Palmerston North

6 November 1902

Charles Henry Hall
Sarah Knowles

Charles Henry Hall
Sarah Knowles
💍 1902/5078

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

22 years
19 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

2 years
2 years

All Saints Church Palmerston North

02/5185

Henry Knowles Father

6 November 1902

Rev C. C. Harper Anglican Minister Palmerston North

No	83
Date of Notice	6 November 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Hall	Sarah Knowles
	💍 1902/5078
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	22 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church Palmerston North
Folio	02/5185
Consent	Henry Knowles Father
Date of Certificate	6 November 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev C. C. Harper Anglican Minister Palmerston North

11 November 1902

Mads Heinrich Burmeister
Johanne Marie Nielsen

Max Heinrich Burmeister
Johanne Marie Nielsen
💍 1902/5428

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24 years
24 years

Kairanga Palmerston North
Stoney Creek Palmerston North

24 years
11 years

Lutheran Church Palmerston North

02/5189

11 November 1902

Rev Mads Christensen Lutheran Minister Palmerston North

No	84
Date of Notice	11 November 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Mads Heinrich Burmeister	Johanne Marie Nielsen
BDM Match (96%)	Max Heinrich Burmeister	Johanne Marie Nielsen
	💍 1902/5428
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Kairanga Palmerston North	Stoney Creek Palmerston North
Length of Residence	24 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Lutheran Church Palmerston North
Folio	02/5189
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 November 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev Mads Christensen Lutheran Minister Palmerston North

19 November 1902

Lewis Eppstein
Mabel May Hart

Lewis Eppstein
Mabel May Hart
💍 1902/5427

Bachelor
Spinster

Boot Trade

31 years
21 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
2 weeks

At the House of J. Gelhor Palmerston North

02/5788

19 November 1902

Rev. H. Van Staveren Hebrew Minister Wellington

No	85
Date of Notice	19 November 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lewis Eppstein	Mabel May Hart
	💍 1902/5427
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boot Trade
Age	31 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	At the House of J. Gelhor Palmerston North
Folio	02/5788
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 November 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Van Staveren Hebrew Minister Wellington

24 November 1902

John Lander
Bridget Kavanagh

John Lander
Bridget Kavanagh
💍 1902/6244

Bachelor
Spinster

Police Constable

27 years
24 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 years
3 years

St Patricks Church Palmerston North

02/6383

24 November 1902

Rev P. W. Symons C.P. Palmerston North

No	86
Date of Notice	24 November 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Lander	Bridget Kavanagh
	💍 1902/6244
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Police Constable
Age	27 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St Patricks Church Palmerston North
Folio	02/6383
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 November 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev P. W. Symons C.P. Palmerston North

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).