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 576

District of Stratford Quarter ending 31 December 1902 Registrar S. J. James

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

10 December 1902

William John Wellington
Annie Louisa Wallath

William John Wellington
Annie Louisa Wallath
💍 1902/6041

Bachelor
Spinster

Creamery Manager

30
21

Midhurst
New Plymouth

8 years
2 1/2 years

The Westown Hall at New Plymouth

02/6284

10 December 1902

Rev. J. G. Evans, Church of England

No	54
Date of Notice	10 December 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Wellington	Annie Louisa Wallath
	💍 1902/6041
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Creamery Manager
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Midhurst	New Plymouth
Length of Residence	8 years	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	The Westown Hall at New Plymouth
Folio	02/6284
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 December 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Evans, Church of England

20 December 1902

Herbert Chapman
Emily Gibson

Herbert Chapman
Emily Gibson
💍 1902/5249

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

22
21

Stratford
Stratford

10 months
12 months

Residence of Thomas Buckley, Swansea Road, Stratford

02/5031

20 December 1902

Rev. J. A. Rochore, Wesleyan

No	55
Date of Notice	20 December 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Chapman	Emily Gibson
	💍 1902/5249
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	10 months	12 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Thomas Buckley, Swansea Road, Stratford
Folio	02/5031
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 December 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Rochore, Wesleyan

27 December 1902

Frederick John Haywood
Alice May Marchant

Frederick John Hayward
Alice May Marchant
💍 1902/5248

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

31
19

Eltham
Eltham

14 years
10 years

The Office of the Registrar at Stratford

02/5030

Henry Marchant, father

27 December 1902

S. J. James, Registrar, Stratford

No	56
Date of Notice	27 December 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick John Haywood	Alice May Marchant
BDM Match (95%)	Frederick John Hayward	Alice May Marchant
	💍 1902/5248
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	31	19
Dwelling Place	Eltham	Eltham
Length of Residence	14 years	10 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar at Stratford
Folio	02/5030
Consent	Henry Marchant, father
Date of Certificate	27 December 1902
Officiating Minister	S. J. James, Registrar, Stratford

27 December 1902

David Shepherd Maxwell
Helen Theresa Farrell

David Shepherd Maxwell
Helen Teresa Farrell
💍 1902/5244

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler

29
24

Joko
Joko

10 years
7 years

The Roman Catholic Church at Stratford

02/5026

27 December 1902

Rev. Father P. Treacy, Roman Catholic

No	57
Date of Notice	27 December 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Shepherd Maxwell	Helen Theresa Farrell
BDM Match (98%)	David Shepherd Maxwell	Helen Teresa Farrell
	💍 1902/5244
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Joko	Joko
Length of Residence	10 years	7 years
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic Church at Stratford
Folio	02/5026
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 December 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father P. Treacy, Roman Catholic

27 December 1902

Edward Ambrose Alger
Catherine Grace Rothall

Edward Ambrose Alger
Catherine Grace Rothall
💍 1902/5250

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor

22
24

Stratford
Stratford

12 months
18 months

Residence of E. G. Alger, Mountain Road, Stratford

02/5032

27 December 1902

Rev. James Glover, Primitive Methodist

No	58
Date of Notice	27 December 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Ambrose Alger	Catherine Grace Rothall
	💍 1902/5250
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	12 months	18 months
Marriage Place	Residence of E. G. Alger, Mountain Road, Stratford
Folio	02/5032
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 December 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Glover, 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).