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 1270

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1902 Registrar Edmund H. Lyons

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

3 January 1902

George Arthur Somerville
Fannie Smith

George Arthur Somerville
Fannie Smith
💍 1902/582

Bachelor
Spinster

School Teacher

28
20

Auckland
Auckland

10 days
5 years

St. Sepulchre Church

02/155

Charles Smith, Father

3 January 1902

Rev. A. J. Purchas, Church of England

No	1
Date of Notice	3 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Arthur Somerville	Fannie Smith
	💍 1902/582
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School Teacher
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 days	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Sepulchre Church
Folio	02/155
Consent	Charles Smith, Father
Date of Certificate	3 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Purchas, Church of England

3 January 1902

Samuel Newsom Haynes
Ethel Mary Brown

Samuel Newsome Haymes
Ethel May Brown
💍 1902/2406

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

34
25

Auckland
Parnell

8 days
25 years

Knox Church

02/144

3 January 1902

Rev. H. Kelly, Presbyterian

No	2
Date of Notice	3 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Newsom Haynes	Ethel Mary Brown
BDM Match (92%)	Samuel Newsome Haymes	Ethel May Brown
	💍 1902/2406
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	34	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Parnell
Length of Residence	8 days	25 years
Marriage Place	Knox Church
Folio	02/144
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Kelly, Presbyterian

3 January 1902

John Lockhart Pitkethley
Mary Holland Leahy

John Flockhart Pitkethley
Mary Holland Leahy
💍 1902/6421

Widower
Widow

Salesman

37
33

Auckland
Auckland

35 years
33 years

Registrar's Office

02/2

3 January 1902

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	3
Date of Notice	3 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Lockhart Pitkethley	Mary Holland Leahy
BDM Match (96%)	John Flockhart Pitkethley	Mary Holland Leahy
	💍 1902/6421
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Salesman
Age	37	33
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	35 years	33 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	02/2
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1902
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

3 January 1902

Percy James Bell Johnson
Hilda Mary Lord

Percy James Bell Johnson
Hilda Mary Lord
💍 1902/2150

Bachelor
Spinster

Store-Keeper

31
22

Auckland
Auckland

10 days
22 years

Whau Church

02/75

3 January 1902

Rev. W. S. Pillans, Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	3 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy James Bell Johnson	Hilda Mary Lord
	💍 1902/2150
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Store-Keeper
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 days	22 years
Marriage Place	Whau Church
Folio	02/75
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Pillans, Church of England

3 January 1902

James William Brown
Mabel Rose Hughes

James William Brown
Mabel Rose Hughes
💍 1902/6423

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

41
24

Auckland
Auckland

2 weeks
24 years

Registrar's Office

02/4

3 January 1902

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	5
Date of Notice	3 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James William Brown	Mabel Rose Hughes
	💍 1902/6423
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	41	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 weeks	24 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	02/4
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1902
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

6 January 1902

Graham Stokes
Sylvia Gertrude Sampson

Graham Stokes
Sylvia Gertrude Sampson
💍 1902/2053

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler

23
16

Auckland
Ponsonby

12 years
16 years

Home of Father of Bride, Ponsonby

02/107

George Sampson, Father of Bride

6 January 1902

Rev. B. J. Hancox, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	6 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Graham Stokes	Sylvia Gertrude Sampson
	💍 1902/2053
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler
Age	23	16
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Ponsonby
Length of Residence	12 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Home of Father of Bride, Ponsonby
Folio	02/107
Consent	George Sampson, Father of Bride
Date of Certificate	6 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. J. Hancox, 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).