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 519

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 December 1902 Registrar John Burden

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

4 October 1902

Samuel Hawkins
Katarina Piki Hina Jawhai

Samuel Hawkins
Katarina Piki Huia Tawhai
💍 1902/220

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

25
22

Port Ahuriri
Port Ahuriri

3 years
3 years

At the Registry Office, Napier

09/5061

4 October 1902

John Burden, Registrar, Napier

No	70
Date of Notice	4 October 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Hawkins	Katarina Piki Hina Jawhai
BDM Match (94%)	Samuel Hawkins	Katarina Piki Huia Tawhai
	💍 1902/220
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Port Ahuriri	Port Ahuriri
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	At the Registry Office, Napier
Folio	09/5061
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 October 1902
Officiating Minister	John Burden, Registrar, Napier

6 October 1902

John William Hildred
Grace Lilian Stephens

John William Hildred
Grace Lilian Stephens
💍 1902/221

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

26
16

Napier
Napier

18 years
16 years

At the Registry Office, Napier

09/5062

William Henry Stephens, X mark, Father

9 October 1902

John Burden, Registrar, Napier

No	71
Date of Notice	6 October 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Hildred	Grace Lilian Stephens
	💍 1902/221
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	16
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	18 years	16 years
Marriage Place	At the Registry Office, Napier
Folio	09/5062
Consent	William Henry Stephens, X mark, Father
Date of Certificate	9 October 1902
Officiating Minister	John Burden, Registrar, Napier

7 October 1902

Sidney Hurst Mens
Louisa Frances Merrick

Sidney Hurst Mens
Louisa Frances Merrick
💍 1902/5346

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinetmaker
Domestic Duties

32
19

Napier
Napier

7 years
19 years

At St Pauls Presbyterian Church

09/5080

John Merrick, Father

7 October 1902

Rev J. A. Asher, Napier

No	72
Date of Notice	7 October 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney Hurst Mens	Louisa Frances Merrick
	💍 1902/5346
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinetmaker	Domestic Duties
Age	32	19
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	7 years	19 years
Marriage Place	At St Pauls Presbyterian Church
Folio	09/5080
Consent	John Merrick, Father
Date of Certificate	7 October 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev J. A. Asher, Napier

7 October 1902

James Joseph Tushey
Catherine Donahoe

James Joseph Tuohey
Catherine Donahoe
💍 1902/5700

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

27
19

Napier
Napier

14 days
19 years

St Marys Roman Catholic Church, Napier

09/5442

Elizabeth Morrison, Guardian

8 October 1902

Rev W. H. Goggan, Napier

No	73
Date of Notice	7 October 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Joseph Tushey	Catherine Donahoe
BDM Match (97%)	James Joseph Tuohey	Catherine Donahoe
	💍 1902/5700
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	14 days	19 years
Marriage Place	St Marys Roman Catholic Church, Napier
Folio	09/5442
Consent	Elizabeth Morrison, Guardian
Date of Certificate	8 October 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev W. H. Goggan, Napier

9 October 1902

William Stanley Jones
Jessie Burns

William Stanley Jones
Jessie Burns
💍 1902/222

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic Duties

26
23

Puketapu
Napier

26 years
2 months

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Napier

09/5063

9 October 1902

John Burden, Registrar, Napier

No	74
Date of Notice	9 October 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Stanley Jones	Jessie Burns
	💍 1902/222
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic Duties
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Puketapu	Napier
Length of Residence	26 years	2 months
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Napier
Folio	09/5063
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 October 1902
Officiating Minister	John Burden, Registrar, Napier

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).