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 1255

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1902

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

4 February 1902

John Pohl Cloete
Mary Braithwaite

John Pohl Cloele
Mary Braithwaite
💍 1902/2222

Bachelor
Spinster

Warder

30
23

Auckland
Auckland

3 years
20 years

Registrar's Office

02/19

4 February 1902

E. H. Ryan, Registrar

No	90
Date of Notice	4 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Pohl Cloete	Mary Braithwaite
BDM Match (97%)	John Pohl Cloele	Mary Braithwaite
	💍 1902/2222
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warder
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	02/19
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1902
Officiating Minister	E. H. Ryan, Registrar

4 February 1902

William Williamson
Agnes Day Menuel

William Williamson
Agnes Dey Mennie
💍 1902/2282

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant

34
24

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
10 years

St. Paul's Church

02/58

4 February 1902

Rev. C. M. Nelson, Church of England

No	91
Date of Notice	4 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Williamson	Agnes Day Menuel
BDM Match (88%)	William Williamson	Agnes Dey Mennie
	💍 1902/2282
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church
Folio	02/58
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. M. Nelson, Church of England

5 February 1902

Caleb Thomas Hawkins
Rose Ethel Smith

Caleb Thomas Hawkins
Rose Ethel Smith
💍 1902/2224

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

23
18

Auckland
Auckland

7 years
10 years

Registrar's Office

02/21

Julia Smith, Mother

5 February 1902

E. H. Ryan, Registrar

No	92
Date of Notice	5 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Caleb Thomas Hawkins	Rose Ethel Smith
	💍 1902/2224
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	7 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	02/21
Consent	Julia Smith, Mother
Date of Certificate	5 February 1902
Officiating Minister	E. H. Ryan, Registrar

5 February 1902

Walter Hurley
Alice Barnett

Walter Hurley
Alice Barnett
💍 1902/2171

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
20

Auckland
Auckland

17 years
20 years

St. Matthew's Church

02/80

5 February 1902

Rev. D. E. Fillan, Church of England

No	93
Date of Notice	5 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Hurley	Alice Barnett
	💍 1902/2171
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	17 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church
Folio	02/80
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. E. Fillan, Church of England

5 February 1902

John Thomas Meek
Ettie May Whitcombe

John Thomas Meek
Ettie May Whitcombe
💍 1902/2438

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

21
20

Auckland
Auckland

21 years
20 years

Howe Street Primitive Methodist

02/200

George W. Potter, Father

5 February 1902

Rev. W. Potter, Primitive Methodist

No	94
Date of Notice	5 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Meek	Ettie May Whitcombe
	💍 1902/2438
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	21 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Howe Street Primitive Methodist
Folio	02/200
Consent	George W. Potter, Father
Date of Certificate	5 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Potter, Primitive Methodist

5 February 1902

Frederick Blackwell Rows
Edith Annie Spragg

Frederick Blackwell Rowe
Edith Annie Spragg
💍 1902/2384

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer

27
23

Auckland
Edinburgh Street

27 years
23 years

Congregational Church

02/187

5 February 1902

Rev. F. H. Barrett, Congregational

No	95
Date of Notice	5 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Blackwell Rows	Edith Annie Spragg
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick Blackwell Rowe	Edith Annie Spragg
	💍 1902/2384
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Edinburgh Street
Length of Residence	27 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church
Folio	02/187
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. H. Barrett, Congregational

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).