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 600

District of Opunake Quarter ending 31 December 1902 Registrar William Alfred Harding

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

24 October 1902

Charles Albert Cramer
Beatrice Bulletta Dudley

Charles Albert Cramer
Beatrice Buletta Dudley
💍 1902/5257

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

33
21

Rahotu
Opunake

3 years
13 years

Dwelling of Edward John Dudley, Opunake

02/5038

24 October 1902

H. J. Rawnsley, Church of England

No	30
Date of Notice	24 October 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Albert Cramer	Beatrice Bulletta Dudley
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Albert Cramer	Beatrice Buletta Dudley
	💍 1902/5257
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	33	21
Dwelling Place	Rahotu	Opunake
Length of Residence	3 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Edward John Dudley, Opunake
Folio	02/5038
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 October 1902
Officiating Minister	H. J. Rawnsley, Church of England

25 October 1902

Henry Reynolds Hill
Olive Mary Harrison

Henry Reynolds Hill
Olive Mary Harrison
💍 1902/5258

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
18

Rahotu
Oaonui

8 years
7 years

Dwelling of B. P. Harrison, Oaonui

02/5039

B. P. Harrison, Father

25 October 1902

H. J. Rawnsley, Church of England

No	31
Date of Notice	25 October 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Reynolds Hill	Olive Mary Harrison
	💍 1902/5258
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	18
Dwelling Place	Rahotu	Oaonui
Length of Residence	8 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of B. P. Harrison, Oaonui
Folio	02/5039
Consent	B. P. Harrison, Father
Date of Certificate	25 October 1902
Officiating Minister	H. J. Rawnsley, Church of England

3 November 1902

John Reuben Hooper
Janie Mitford Hooper

John Reuben Hooper
Janice Whitford Hooper
💍 1902/5259

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
27

Pihama
Pihama

2 years
7 years

Dwelling of John Hooper, Pihama

02/5040

3 November 1902

H. J. Rawnsley, Church of England

No	32
Date of Notice	3 November 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Reuben Hooper	Janie Mitford Hooper
BDM Match (93%)	John Reuben Hooper	Janice Whitford Hooper
	💍 1902/5259
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Pihama	Pihama
Length of Residence	2 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of John Hooper, Pihama
Folio	02/5040
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 November 1902
Officiating Minister	H. J. Rawnsley, Church of England

24 November 1902

Henry Richard Fisher
Martha Elizabeth Grainger

Henry Richard Fisher
Martha Elizabeth Grainger
💍 1902/5263

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

32
30

Awatuna
Je Kiri

2 years
5 years

Mr. Grainger's dwelling, Je Kiri

02/5021

24 November 1902

J. G. W. Ellis, Wesleyan

No	33
Date of Notice	24 November 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Richard Fisher	Martha Elizabeth Grainger
	💍 1902/5263
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	32	30
Dwelling Place	Awatuna	Je Kiri
Length of Residence	2 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Mr. Grainger's dwelling, Je Kiri
Folio	02/5021
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 November 1902
Officiating Minister	J. G. W. Ellis, Wesleyan

26 November 1902

David Henderson
Louisa Maria Duffill

David Henderson
Louisa Maria Duffill
💍 1902/5264

Bachelor
Spinster

Coachbuilder

29
21

Opunake
Opunake

5 years
21 years

Wesleyan Church, Opunake

02/5022

26 November 1902

J. G. W. Ellis, Wesleyan

No	34
Date of Notice	26 November 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Henderson	Louisa Maria Duffill
	💍 1902/5264
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coachbuilder
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Opunake	Opunake
Length of Residence	5 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Opunake
Folio	02/5022
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 November 1902
Officiating Minister	J. G. W. Ellis, Wesleyan

9 December 1902

William Sutherland McLeod
Ada Peter

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

19
18

Rahotu
Rahotu

2 years
18 years

Mrs. Peter's dwelling, Rahotu

J. H. White, Methodist

No	35
Date of Notice	9 December 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Sutherland McLeod	Ada Peter
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	19	18
Dwelling Place	Rahotu	Rahotu
Length of Residence	2 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Mrs. Peter's dwelling, Rahotu
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	J. H. White, 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).