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 606

District of Opunake Quarter ending 31 March 1902 Registrar John W. Stead

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

10 January 1902

William Alfred Buffill
Mabel Annie Bevan

William Alfred Duffill
Mabel Annie Bevan
💍 1902/2877

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Domestic

26
25

Opunake
Opunake

18 years
14 days

Residence of Bridegroom, Opunake

02/404

10 January 1902

Rev. Charles Perry, Wesleyan

No	16
Date of Notice	10 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alfred Buffill	Mabel Annie Bevan
BDM Match (98%)	William Alfred Duffill	Mabel Annie Bevan
	💍 1902/2877
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Domestic
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Opunake	Opunake
Length of Residence	18 years	14 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Bridegroom, Opunake
Folio	02/404
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Charles Perry, Wesleyan

21 January 1902

Allen Bell
James Helen Shaw Lambie

Allan Bell
James Helen Shaw Lambie
💍 1902/2878

Bachelor
Spinster

Surveyor
Domestic

32
34

Opunake
Opunake

14 days
17 years

Residence of Bride's father, Opunake

02/405

21 January 1902

Rev. A. H. Chapman, Anglican

No	17
Date of Notice	21 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allen Bell	James Helen Shaw Lambie
BDM Match (95%)	Allan Bell	James Helen Shaw Lambie
	💍 1902/2878
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surveyor	Domestic
Age	32	34
Dwelling Place	Opunake	Opunake
Length of Residence	14 days	17 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Bride's father, Opunake
Folio	02/405
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Chapman, Anglican

30 January 1902

Edward O'Meara
Lucy Josephine Dempsey

Edward O'Meara
Lucy Josephine Dempsey
💍 1902/2722

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotel Proprietor
Domestic

30
24

Opunake
Wanganui

8 months

Roman Catholic Church, Wanganui

02/634

30 January 1902

Rev. Charles Bean, R.C. Priest (30/1/1902)

No	18
Date of Notice	30 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward O'Meara	Lucy Josephine Dempsey
	💍 1902/2722
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotel Proprietor	Domestic
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Opunake	Wanganui
Length of Residence	8 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Wanganui
Folio	02/634
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Charles Bean, R.C. Priest (30/1/1902)

31 January 1902

Hugh Richards Thornley
Alice Eleanor Warren

Hugh Richards Thornley
Alice Eleanor Warren
💍 1902/2876

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

25
19

Tekiri
Tekiri

4 years
8 years

Residence of Bride's parents, Tekiri

02/403

Samuel Robert Warren, father of bride

31 January 1902

Rev. Harry Thomas Raunsley, Anglican

No	19
Date of Notice	31 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Richards Thornley	Alice Eleanor Warren
	💍 1902/2876
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Tekiri	Tekiri
Length of Residence	4 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Bride's parents, Tekiri
Folio	02/403
Consent	Samuel Robert Warren, father of bride
Date of Certificate	31 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Harry Thomas Raunsley, Anglican

1 March 1902

Angus Mackintosh
Maude Florence De Georges

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

22
18

Opunake
Opunake

18 months
18 years

Presbyterian Church, Opunake

02/406

Francis De Georges, father of bride

1 March 1902

Rev. William Hill Phillips, Presbyterian

No	20
Date of Notice	1 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Angus Mackintosh	Maude Florence De Georges
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Opunake	Opunake
Length of Residence	18 months	18 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Opunake
Folio	02/406
Consent	Francis De Georges, father of bride
Date of Certificate	1 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Hill Phillips, 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).