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 1263

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

18 January 1902

William John Lang
Annie Doolan

William John Lang
Annie Doolan
💍 1902/2272

Bachelor
Spinster

Boatman

21
17

Auckland
Auckland

2 years
1 year

All Saints Church, Auckland

02/170

Patrick Doolan, father of minor

18 January 1902

Rev. W. Callen, Church of England

No	42
Date of Notice	18 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Lang	Annie Doolan
	💍 1902/2272
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boatman
Age	21	17
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Auckland
Folio	02/170
Consent	Patrick Doolan, father of minor
Date of Certificate	18 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Callen, Church of England

18 January 1902

Philip John Goonton
Elvira Matthews

Philip John Woonton
Elvira Matthews
💍 1902/6425

Widower
Spinster

Farmer

42
22

Auckland
Avondale

10 years

House of Rev. A. Maclean

02/140

18 January 1902

Rev. A. Maclean, Presbyterian

No	43
Date of Notice	18 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip John Goonton	Elvira Matthews
BDM Match (97%)	Philip John Woonton	Elvira Matthews
	💍 1902/6425
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	42	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Avondale
Length of Residence	10 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. A. Maclean
Folio	02/140
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Maclean, Presbyterian

20 January 1902

Patrick William Murray
Millicent Spargo

Patrick William Murray McCallum
Millicent Spargo
💍 1902/2175

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder

29
22

Auckland
Auckland

2 years
2 years

St. Andrew's Church, Auckland

02/150

20 January 1902

Rev. H. B. Gray, Presbyterian

No	44
Date of Notice	20 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick William Murray	Millicent Spargo
BDM Match (86%)	Patrick William Murray McCallum	Millicent Spargo
	💍 1902/2175
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church, Auckland
Folio	02/150
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. B. Gray, Presbyterian

20 January 1902

Kristian Hille
Damia Hill Ferguson

Kristian Wille
Davina Hill Ferguson
💍 1902/332

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

36
38

Auckland
5 City Road

3 days
5 years

House of Rev. R. T. Maclaurin

02/112

20 January 1902

Rev. R. T. Maclaurin, Presbyterian

No	45
Date of Notice	20 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kristian Hille	Damia Hill Ferguson
BDM Match (91%)	Kristian Wille	Davina Hill Ferguson
	💍 1902/332
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	36	38
Dwelling Place	Auckland	5 City Road
Length of Residence	3 days	5 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. R. T. Maclaurin
Folio	02/112
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. T. Maclaurin, Presbyterian

20 January 1902

James Howard Reid
Lillie Day

James Stevenson Reid
Lillias Day
💍 1902/2408

Bachelor
Spinster

Police Constable

26
22

Auckland
Parnell

4 years
4 years

House of Rev. H. Kelly

02/145

20 January 1902

Rev. H. Kelly, Presbyterian

No	46
Date of Notice	20 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Howard Reid	Lillie Day
BDM Match (68%)	James Stevenson Reid	Lillias Day
	💍 1902/2408
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Police Constable
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Parnell
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. H. Kelly
Folio	02/145
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Kelly, Presbyterian

20 January 1902

James Howard Wills
Harriet Louisa Gillman

James Howard Wills
Harriet Louisa Gillman
💍 1902/2404

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
25

Auckland
Onehunga

4 days
2 years

House of Father of Bride, Onehunga

02/142

20 January 1902

Rev. R. Barr, Presbyterian

No	47
Date of Notice	20 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Howard Wills	Harriet Louisa Gillman
	💍 1902/2404
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Onehunga
Length of Residence	4 days	2 years
Marriage Place	House of Father of Bride, Onehunga
Folio	02/142
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Barr, Presbyterian

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).