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 1213

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 June 1902 Registrar J. H. Ryans

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

330

28 April 1902

Ernest Edward Seccombe
Maud Elizabeth Nicholson

Ernest Edward Marshall
Maude Elizabeth Nicholson
💍 1902/2105

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
22

Auckland
Auckland

15 years
22 years

House of Father of Bride, Ireland St.

02/1709

28 April 1902

Rev. N. J. Potter, Primitive Methodist

No	330
Date of Notice	28 April 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Edward Seccombe	Maud Elizabeth Nicholson
BDM Match (80%)	Ernest Edward Marshall	Maude Elizabeth Nicholson
	💍 1902/2105
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	15 years	22 years
Marriage Place	House of Father of Bride, Ireland St.
Folio	02/1709
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. N. J. Potter, Primitive Methodist

331

29 April 1902

Alexander Lewis Mortensen
Bessie Yandle

Alexander Lewis Mortensen
Bessie Yandle
💍 1902/558

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill Hand

23
21

Auckland
Auckland

4 years

St. Matthews Church, Auckland

02/1517

29 April 1902

Rev. G. S. Gillam, Church of England

No	331
Date of Notice	29 April 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Lewis Mortensen	Bessie Yandle
	💍 1902/558
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill Hand
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Auckland
Folio	02/1517
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 April 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. S. Gillam, Church of England

332

29 April 1902

Ernest Herbert Potter
Ada Jarry

Ernest Herbert Potter
Ada Tarry
💍 1902/565

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant

36
28

Auckland
Auckland

36 years
12 years

St. Peters Church, Onehunga

02/1592

29 April 1902

Rev. P. S. Smallfield, Church of England

No	332
Date of Notice	29 April 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Herbert Potter	Ada Jarry
BDM Match (94%)	Ernest Herbert Potter	Ada Tarry
	💍 1902/565
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant
Age	36	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	36 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church, Onehunga
Folio	02/1592
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 April 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. S. Smallfield, Church of England

333

29 April 1902

David Palmer
Evelyn Fordyce Bain

David Palmer
Evelyn Fordyce Bain
💍 1902/1337

Widower
Spinster

Mercer

41
34

Auckland
Auckland

5 years

House of R. W. Holden, Northcote

02/1867

29 April 1902

Rev. R. Somerville, Presbyterian

No	333
Date of Notice	29 April 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Palmer	Evelyn Fordyce Bain
	💍 1902/1337
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Mercer
Age	41	34
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years
Marriage Place	House of R. W. Holden, Northcote
Folio	02/1867
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 April 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Somerville, Presbyterian

334

29 April 1902

Joseph Baildon
Irene Ferguson

Joseph Baildon
Irene Ferguson
💍 1902/730

Bachelor
Spinster

Boot Finisher

27
22

Auckland
Auckland

23 years
22 years

House of R. C. Harris, Symonds Street

02/1617

29 April 1902

Rev. G. G. Dixon, Presbyterian

No	334
Date of Notice	29 April 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Baildon	Irene Ferguson
	💍 1902/730
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boot Finisher
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	23 years	22 years
Marriage Place	House of R. C. Harris, Symonds Street
Folio	02/1617
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 April 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. G. Dixon, Presbyterian

335

29 April 1902

George Brinsden
Annie Clark

George Brinsden
Annie Clark
💍 1902/534

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

23
22

Auckland
Auckland

23 years
4 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

02/1530

29 April 1902

S. H. Ryans, Registrar

No	335
Date of Notice	29 April 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Brinsden	Annie Clark
	💍 1902/534
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	23 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	02/1530
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 April 1902
Officiating Minister	S. H. Ryans, Registrar

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).