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 524

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 June 1902 Registrar John Burden

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

26 May 1902

Louis Freedman
Florence Louise Kendall

Louis Freeman
Florence Louise Kendall
💍 1902/1390

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser

31
21

Napier
Napier

12 years
21 years

Residence of Brides parents, Carlyle Street, Napier

02/1978

26 May 1902

Rev. F. A. Asher

No	48
Date of Notice	26 May 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Louis Freedman	Florence Louise Kendall
BDM Match (96%)	Louis Freeman	Florence Louise Kendall
	💍 1902/1390
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	12 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Brides parents, Carlyle Street, Napier
Folio	02/1978
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 May 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. A. Asher

4 June 1902

George Robson
Sarah Clifton
formerly Bell

George Robson
Sarah Clifton
💍 1902/2136

Widower
Widow

Plumber & Painter
Housekeeper

60
55

Napier
Napier

28 years
28 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Napier

02/1989

4 June 1902

John Burden, Registrar

No	49
Date of Notice	4 June 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Robson	Sarah Clifton formerly Bell
	💍 1902/2136
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Plumber & Painter	Housekeeper
Age	60	55
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	28 years	28 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Napier
Folio	02/1989
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1902
Officiating Minister	John Burden, Registrar

4 June 1902

Percival James Bear
Mabel Winduss

Percival James Bear
Mabel Winduss
💍 1902/1902

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Domestic

28
26

Napier
Napier

26 years
26 years

Residence of the Brides Parents, Shakespeare Road

02/1979

4 June 1902

Rev. J. G. Asher

No	50
Date of Notice	4 June 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percival James Bear	Mabel Winduss
	💍 1902/1902
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Domestic
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	26 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Residence of the Brides Parents, Shakespeare Road
Folio	02/1979
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Asher

23 June 1902

Frederick Wallace Chapman
Jessie Buchanan Cummoett

Frederick Wallace Chapman
Jessie Buchanan Cummock
💍 1902/1922

Bachelor
Spinster

Police Constable
Domestic

23
22

Napier
Napier

3 weeks
3 weeks

At Mrs. Fosters House, Hastings Street

02/1987

23 June 1902

Rev. B. E. Beecroft

No	52
Date of Notice	23 June 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Wallace Chapman	Jessie Buchanan Cummoett
BDM Match (94%)	Frederick Wallace Chapman	Jessie Buchanan Cummock
	💍 1902/1922
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Police Constable	Domestic
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 weeks	3 weeks
Marriage Place	At Mrs. Fosters House, Hastings Street
Folio	02/1987
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 June 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. E. Beecroft

6 June 1902

James Henry Heron
Margaret Ellen Alley

James Henry Heron
Margaret Ellen Alley
💍 1902/1387

Bachelor
Spinster

Coach Driver
Household duties

27
26

Meanee
Clive

12 months

Church of England, Clive

02/1975

6 June 1902

Very Rev. Dean Hovell

No	57
Date of Notice	6 June 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Henry Heron	Margaret Ellen Alley
	💍 1902/1387
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coach Driver	Household duties
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Meanee	Clive
Length of Residence	12 months
Marriage Place	Church of England, Clive
Folio	02/1975
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 June 1902
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean Hovell

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).