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 1046

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 30 June 1902 Registrar George John Alexander Johnstone

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

1292

23 May 1902

Robert Hyslop Macmillian
Ellen Adeline Bent

Robert Hyslop Macmillan
Ellen Adeline Bent
💍 1902/1332

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

38
32

Mangahoni, Patutahi, Poverty Bay
Patutahi, Poverty Bay

13 months
20 months

Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne

02/1863

23 May 1902

Rev. Walter Welsh, Church of England

No	1292
Date of Notice	23 May 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Hyslop Macmillian	Ellen Adeline Bent
BDM Match (98%)	Robert Hyslop Macmillan	Ellen Adeline Bent
	💍 1902/1332
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	38	32
Dwelling Place	Mangahoni, Patutahi, Poverty Bay	Patutahi, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	13 months	20 months
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne
Folio	02/1863
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 May 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Walter Welsh, Church of England

1293

4 June 1902

John O'Shea
Ellen McGloughlin

John OShea
Ellen McLoughlin
💍 1902/1186

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

32
33

Gisborne
Patutahi, Poverty Bay

6 years
9 years

Roman Catholic Church, Patutahi

02/1759

4 June 1902

Rev. Thos. Mulvihill, Roman Catholic

No	1293
Date of Notice	4 June 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John O'Shea	Ellen McGloughlin
BDM Match (90%)	John OShea	Ellen McLoughlin
	💍 1902/1186
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	32	33
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Patutahi, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	6 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Patutahi
Folio	02/1759
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. Mulvihill, Roman Catholic

1294

7 June 1902

Benjamin Boyle Banks
Frances Evelyn Banks

Benjamin Boyle
Frances Ermyn Banks
💍 1902/1200

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic servant

23
20

Gisborne
Gisborne

All his life
3 years

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

02/1750

George Banks, father

7 June 1902

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	1294
Date of Notice	7 June 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin Boyle Banks	Frances Evelyn Banks
BDM Match (78%)	Benjamin Boyle	Frances Ermyn Banks
	💍 1902/1200
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic servant
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	All his life	3 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	02/1750
Consent	George Banks, father
Date of Certificate	7 June 1902
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

1295

9 June 1902

Archibald Robert Watson
Ella Mary Wallis

Archibald Robert Watson
Ella Mary Wallis
💍 1902/1331

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer

34
23

Waimata, Poverty Bay
Kaiti, Gisborne

4 months
4 months

Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne

02/1862

9 June 1902

Rev. Herbert Williams, Church of England

No	1295
Date of Notice	9 June 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Robert Watson	Ella Mary Wallis
	💍 1902/1331
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Waimata, Poverty Bay	Kaiti, Gisborne
Length of Residence	4 months	4 months
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne
Folio	02/1862
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 June 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Herbert Williams, Church of England

1296

16 June 1902

Herbert Yardley
Emily Houlden

Herbert Yardley
Emily Houlden
💍 1902/1373

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

27
28

Gisborne
Gisborne

12 years
1 year

Rev. J. Gillies Paterson's residence, Ormond Rd., Whataupoko, Poverty Bay

02/1880

16 June 1902

Rev. J. Gillies Paterson, Presbyterian

No	1296
Date of Notice	16 June 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Yardley	Emily Houlden
	💍 1902/1373
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	12 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Rev. J. Gillies Paterson's residence, Ormond Rd., Whataupoko, Poverty Bay
Folio	02/1880
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 June 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gillies Paterson, Presbyterian

1297

28 June 1902

Frederick John Brown
Catherine Hislop

Frederick John Brown
Catherine Hislop
💍 1902/1201

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic servant

27
18

Waipaoa, Poverty Bay
Waipaoa, Poverty Bay

19 months
6 months

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

02/1757

Margaret Hearse, mother

28 June 1902

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	1297
Date of Notice	28 June 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick John Brown	Catherine Hislop
	💍 1902/1201
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic servant
Age	27	18
Dwelling Place	Waipaoa, Poverty Bay	Waipaoa, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	19 months	6 months
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	02/1757
Consent	Margaret Hearse, mother
Date of Certificate	28 June 1902
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

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).