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 581

District of Stratford Quarter ending 30 September 1902 Registrar S. J. Ham

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

28 July 1902

William Romaine Dowson
Rosie Ethel Hollard

William Romaine Dowson
Louie Ethel Hollard
💍 1902/3835

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

28
21

Kaponga
Kaponga

6 years
13 years

Residence of George Hollard

02/3456

28 July 1902

Rev. J. W. Ellis, Wesleyan

No	35
Date of Notice	28 July 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Romaine Dowson	Rosie Ethel Hollard
BDM Match (95%)	William Romaine Dowson	Louie Ethel Hollard
	💍 1902/3835
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Kaponga	Kaponga
Length of Residence	6 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Residence of George Hollard
Folio	02/3456
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Ellis, Wesleyan

29 July 1902

Frank William Harrett
Sarah Jane Baird

Frank William Garrett
Sarah Jane Baird
💍 1902/3850

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

22
20

Kaponga
Rowan

12 years
3 years

Residence of William Baird, Rowan

02/3447

William Baird, father

29 July 1902

Rev. Jas. Glover, Primitive Methodist

No	36
Date of Notice	29 July 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank William Harrett	Sarah Jane Baird
BDM Match (98%)	Frank William Garrett	Sarah Jane Baird
	💍 1902/3850
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Kaponga	Rowan
Length of Residence	12 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of William Baird, Rowan
Folio	02/3447
Consent	William Baird, father
Date of Certificate	29 July 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jas. Glover, Primitive Methodist

4 August 1902

Fred Wellington
Margaret Jones

Fred Wellington
Margaret Jones
💍 1902/3851

Bachelor
Spinster

Creamery Manager

26
28

Midhirst
Midhirst

7 years
4 1/2 years

Primitive Methodist Church, Midhirst

02/3448

4 August 1902

Rev. J. Glover, Primitive Methodist

No	37
Date of Notice	4 August 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fred Wellington	Margaret Jones
	💍 1902/3851
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Creamery Manager
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Midhirst	Midhirst
Length of Residence	7 years	4 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Midhirst
Folio	02/3448
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 August 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Glover, Primitive Methodist

4 August 1902

Charles Joseph Thompson
Ellen Kehely

Charles Joseph Thompson
Ellen Kehely
💍 1902/3847

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

25
22

Okaiawa
Hastings Road

5 years
3 years

Residence of Daniel Kehely, Hastings Road

02/3444

4 August 1902

Rev. A. D. Boyes, Church of England

No	38
Date of Notice	4 August 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Joseph Thompson	Ellen Kehely
	💍 1902/3847
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Okaiawa	Hastings Road
Length of Residence	5 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Daniel Kehely, Hastings Road
Folio	02/3444
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 August 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. D. Boyes, Church of England

18 August 1902

Alfred Salt
Harriett Jane Newton

Alfred Salt
Harriet Jane Newton
💍 1902/3832

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

30
25

Stratford
Stratford

12 years
3 months

Residence of James Sharrock, East Road

02/3453

18 August 1902

Rev. J. A. Lochore, Wesleyan

No	39
Date of Notice	18 August 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Salt	Harriett Jane Newton
BDM Match (98%)	Alfred Salt	Harriet Jane Newton
	💍 1902/3832
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	12 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Residence of James Sharrock, East Road
Folio	02/3453
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 August 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Lochore, Wesleyan

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).