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 245

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 31 March 1902 Registrar Robt. Cr. 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

31 January 1902

Frederic Leo Selby
Leonora Violet Rathborne

Frederic Leo Selby
Leonora Violet Rathburn
💍 1902/2027

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24 years
21 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 weeks
6 months

All Saints Church, Palmerston North

02/574

31 January 1902

Rev. C. C. Harper, Anglican Minister, Palmerston North

No	6
Date of Notice	31 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederic Leo Selby	Leonora Violet Rathborne
BDM Match (96%)	Frederic Leo Selby	Leonora Violet Rathburn
	💍 1902/2027
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 weeks	6 months
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Palmerston North
Folio	02/574
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. C. Harper, Anglican Minister, Palmerston North

4 February 1902

William Marshall
Annie Jensen

William Marshall
Annie Pauline Jensen
💍 1902/33

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

31 years
21 years

Palmerston North
Taonui, Rangitikei Road, Palmerston North

3 weeks
5 months

At the office of the Registrar, Palmerston North

02/580

4 February 1902

Robt. Cr. Keeling, Registrar, Palmerston North

No	7
Date of Notice	4 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Marshall	Annie Jensen
BDM Match (80%)	William Marshall	Annie Pauline Jensen
	💍 1902/33
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	31 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Taonui, Rangitikei Road, Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 weeks	5 months
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar, Palmerston North
Folio	02/580
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Robt. Cr. Keeling, Registrar, Palmerston North

12 February 1902

William Henderson
Margaret O'Neill

William Henderson
Margaret O'Neill
💍 1902/2010

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

24 years
19 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

2 months
10 days

At the office of the Registrar, Palmerston North

02/581

James O'Neill, father

12 February 1902

Robt. Cr. Keeling, Registrar, Palmerston North

No	8
Date of Notice	12 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henderson	Margaret O'Neill
	💍 1902/2010
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	24 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	2 months	10 days
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar, Palmerston North
Folio	02/581
Consent	James O'Neill, father
Date of Certificate	12 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Robt. Cr. Keeling, Registrar, Palmerston North

21 February 1902

George Harold Bycroft
Matilda Georgina Grubb

George Harold Bycroft
Matilda Georgina Grubb
💍 1902/3879

Bachelor
Spinster

Cycle Engineer

28 years
30 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

5 years
7 years

At the house of John C. Grubb, Palmerston North

02/581

21 February 1902

Rev. J. W. Newbold, Wesleyan Minister, Palmerston North

No	9
Date of Notice	21 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Harold Bycroft	Matilda Georgina Grubb
	💍 1902/3879
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cycle Engineer
Age	28 years	30 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	5 years	7 years
Marriage Place	At the house of John C. Grubb, Palmerston North
Folio	02/581
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Newbold, Wesleyan Minister, Palmerston North

25 February 1902

George McEwen
Ethel May Ashmore

George McEwen
Ethel May Ashmore
💍 1902/2011

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25 years
16 years

Karere, Palmerston North
Karere, Palmerston North

25 years
1 week

At the office of the Registrar, Palmerston North

02/582

Kate Spiers, mother

25 February 1902

Robt. Cr. Keeling, Registrar, Palmerston North

No	10
Date of Notice	25 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George McEwen	Ethel May Ashmore
	💍 1902/2011
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25 years	16 years
Dwelling Place	Karere, Palmerston North	Karere, Palmerston North
Length of Residence	25 years	1 week
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar, Palmerston North
Folio	02/582
Consent	Kate Spiers, mother
Date of Certificate	25 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Robt. Cr. Keeling, Registrar, Palmerston North

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).