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 1223

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 June 1902 Registrar Edward W. Hayne

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

271

7 April 1902

John William Back
Charles Hermant Marrea

Carter
Pooch

22
24

Auckland
Auckland

5 years
5 years

St Paul's Church

02/1577

7 April 1902

Rev. C. M. Nelson, Church of England

No	271
Date of Notice	7 April 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Back	Charles Hermant Marrea
Condition
Profession	Carter	Pooch
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Church
Folio	02/1577
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. M. Nelson, Church of England

272

7 April 1902

William Charles Rolfe
Margaret Harvey

William Charles Rolfe
Margaret Harvey
💍 1902/1807

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist

31
31

Auckland
Devonport

3 1/2 years
14 years

Holy Trinity Church

02/1669

7 April 1902

Rev. C. H. Sarland, Methodist

No	272
Date of Notice	7 April 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Charles Rolfe	Margaret Harvey
	💍 1902/1807
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist
Age	31	31
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Devonport
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church
Folio	02/1669
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Sarland, Methodist

273

7 April 1902

William James Black
Jane Oates

Bachelor
Spinster

Smith
Sherwood

26
25

Auckland
Green Lane

3 days
5 years

House of William Sanderson

02/1679

7 April 1902

Rev. C. H. Sarland, Methodist

No	273
Date of Notice	7 April 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Black	Jane Oates
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Smith	Sherwood
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Green Lane
Length of Residence	3 days	5 years
Marriage Place	House of William Sanderson
Folio	02/1679
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Sarland, Methodist

274

8 April 1902

Edward Ernest Copsey
Annie Hughes Russell

Edward Earnest Copsey
Annie Ingledew Russell
💍 1902/684

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener

30
21

Auckland
Avondale

8 years
17 years

House of Mother of Bride

02/1690

8 April 1902

Rev. J. L. Pinfold, Methodist

No	274
Date of Notice	8 April 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Ernest Copsey	Annie Hughes Russell
BDM Match (84%)	Edward Earnest Copsey	Annie Ingledew Russell
	💍 1902/684
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Avondale
Length of Residence	8 years	17 years
Marriage Place	House of Mother of Bride
Folio	02/1690
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. L. Pinfold, Methodist

275

9 April 1902

Julius Piraeus
Sarah Brown

Julius Pirens
Sarah Erwin
💍 1902/524

Widower
Spinster

Mariner

34
32

Auckland
Auckland

16 years
32 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

02/1521

9 April 1902

E. H. Hayres, Registrar

No	275
Date of Notice	9 April 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Julius Piraeus	Sarah Brown
BDM Match (79%)	Julius Pirens	Sarah Erwin
	💍 1902/524
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	34	32
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	16 years	32 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	02/1521
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1902
Officiating Minister	E. H. Hayres, Registrar

276

9 April 1902

Owen Cummins
Mary Brennan

Owen Cummins
Mary Brennan
💍 1902/619

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

26
21

Auckland
Auckland

26 years
21 years

Roman Catholic Church, Onehunga

02/1671

9 April 1902

Very Rev. J. Paul, Roman Catholic

No	276
Date of Notice	9 April 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Owen Cummins	Mary Brennan
	💍 1902/619
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	26 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Onehunga
Folio	02/1671
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1902
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. J. Paul, Roman Catholic

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).