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 1246

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1902 Registrar Edward H. Ryons

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

144

26 February 1902

Charles Boddy
Lillian Jane Havefield

Charles Boddy
Lillian Jane Haverfield
💍 1902/2268

Bachelor
Spinster

Boot Maker

22
23

Auckland
Auckland

12 years
12 years

Epiphany Church

02/67

26 February 1902

Rev. W. E. Hush, Church of England

No	144
Date of Notice	26 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Boddy	Lillian Jane Havefield
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Boddy	Lillian Jane Haverfield
	💍 1902/2268
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boot Maker
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	12 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Epiphany Church
Folio	02/67
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Hush, Church of England

145

27 February 1902

James Bigham
Anne Rosina Johnson

James Bigham
Annie Rosine Johnson
💍 1902/2419

Bachelor
Spinster

Bargeman

28
23

Auckland
Remuera

28 years
23 years

St. Lukes Church

02/133

27 February 1902

Rev. G. B. Munro, Presbyterian

No	145
Date of Notice	27 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Bigham	Anne Rosina Johnson
BDM Match (95%)	James Bigham	Annie Rosine Johnson
	💍 1902/2419
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bargeman
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Remuera
Length of Residence	28 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Lukes Church
Folio	02/133
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Munro, Presbyterian

146

27 February 1902

Joseph Actbury
Harriet Burk

Joseph Astbury Warbrick
Harriet Burt
💍 1902/2287

Joseph Elford
Harriet Avery
💍 1903/6694

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler

40
23

Auckland
Auckland

4 days
2 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

02/37

27 February 1902

E. H. Ryons, Registrar

No	146
Date of Notice	27 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Actbury	Harriet Burk
BDM Match (74%)	Joseph Astbury Warbrick	Harriet Burt
	💍 1902/2287
BDM Match (63%)	Joseph Elford	Harriet Avery
	💍 1903/6694
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	40	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	02/37
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1902
Officiating Minister	E. H. Ryons, Registrar

147

27 February 1902

Ernest Aldridge
Nellie Dobson Hutchison

Ernest Aldridge
Nellie Dobson Hutchinson
💍 1902/2430

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

23
23

Auckland
Ponsonby

20 years
20 years

House of Father

02/212

Arthur, father of bride

27 February 1902

Rev. G. Aldridge, Church of Christ

No	147
Date of Notice	27 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Aldridge	Nellie Dobson Hutchison
BDM Match (98%)	Ernest Aldridge	Nellie Dobson Hutchinson
	💍 1902/2430
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Ponsonby
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	House of Father
Folio	02/212
Consent	Arthur, father of bride
Date of Certificate	27 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Aldridge, Church of Christ

148

27 February 1902

Henry Owen Totman
Caroline Spence Brook

Henry Owen Totman
Caroline Brook
💍 1902/2399

Bachelor
Spinster

Perambulator Maker

25
22

Auckland
Auckland

16 years
16 years

St. David's Church

02/136

27 February 1902

Rev. W. S. Dixon, Presbyterian

No	148
Date of Notice	27 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Owen Totman	Caroline Spence Brook
BDM Match (83%)	Henry Owen Totman	Caroline Brook
	💍 1902/2399
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Perambulator Maker
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	16 years	16 years
Marriage Place	St. David's Church
Folio	02/136
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Dixon, Presbyterian

149

28 February 1902

Hans Emil Hansen
Martha Taylor

Hans Emil Hansen
Martha Taylor
💍 1902/691

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

29
26

Auckland
Mount Roskill

2 years
8 years

House of W. S. Steen

02/1716

28 February 1902

Rev. H. Williams, Primitive Methodist

No	149
Date of Notice	28 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hans Emil Hansen	Martha Taylor
	💍 1902/691
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Mount Roskill
Length of Residence	2 years	8 years
Marriage Place	House of W. S. Steen
Folio	02/1716
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Williams, 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).