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 514

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

6 December 1902

George Archibald Hills
Emma Euphamia Patterson

George Archibald Wills
Emma Euphemia Patterson
💍 1902/5348

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic Duties

25
23

Napier
Napier

4 years
5 years

Residence of the Bridegroom, Stürms Gully, Napier

02/5082

6 December 1902

Rev. J. A. Asher

No	90
Date of Notice	6 December 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Archibald Hills	Emma Euphamia Patterson
BDM Match (96%)	George Archibald Wills	Emma Euphemia Patterson
	💍 1902/5348
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of the Bridegroom, Stürms Gully, Napier
Folio	02/5082
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 December 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher

8 December 1902

Edward John Pearse Colivill
Harriet Anne Ward

Edward John Pearce Colwill
Harriett Anne Ward
💍 1902/5312

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Domestic Duties

23
19

Napier
Patangata

10 years
19 years

at the Residence of the Brides Parents, Patangata

02/5095

Robert Ward, Father

8 December 1902

Rev. H. P. Cowx

No	91
Date of Notice	8 December 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward John Pearse Colivill	Harriet Anne Ward
BDM Match (92%)	Edward John Pearce Colwill	Harriett Anne Ward
	💍 1902/5312
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Domestic Duties
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Napier	Patangata
Length of Residence	10 years	19 years
Marriage Place	at the Residence of the Brides Parents, Patangata
Folio	02/5095
Consent	Robert Ward, Father
Date of Certificate	8 December 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. P. Cowx

8 December 1902

George Henry Symons
Mary Levrana Jamieson

George Henry Symons
May Jamieson
💍 1902/5350

Bachelor
Spinster

Coach Builder
Domestic Duties

23
21

Taradale
Napier

3 months
17 years

at the Residence of the Brides Parents, Napier

02/5084

8 December 1902

Rev. J. A. Asher

No	92
Date of Notice	8 December 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Symons	Mary Levrana Jamieson
BDM Match (79%)	George Henry Symons	May Jamieson
	💍 1902/5350
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coach Builder	Domestic Duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Taradale	Napier
Length of Residence	3 months	17 years
Marriage Place	at the Residence of the Brides Parents, Napier
Folio	02/5084
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 December 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher

11 December 1902

Walter Whitnall Smith
Clara Elfrida Schwabe

Walter Whitnale Smith
Clara Elpida Schwabe
💍 1902/5349

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler
Dressmaker

30
30

Napier
Napier

5 years
27 years

at the Residence of the Brides Parents, Fitzroy Road, Napier

02/5089

11 December 1902

Rev. J. A. Asher

No	93
Date of Notice	11 December 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Whitnall Smith	Clara Elfrida Schwabe
BDM Match (93%)	Walter Whitnale Smith	Clara Elpida Schwabe
	💍 1902/5349
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler	Dressmaker
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 years	27 years
Marriage Place	at the Residence of the Brides Parents, Fitzroy Road, Napier
Folio	02/5089
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 December 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher

18 December 1902

George William Crampton
Amy Marshall
formerly Anderton

George William Crampton
Amy Marshall
💍 1902/5351

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer
Domestic Duties

32
30

Napier
Napier

3 days
3 days

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Napier

02/5067

18 December 1902

John Burden, Registrar, Napier

No	94
Date of Notice	18 December 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Crampton	Amy Marshall formerly Anderton
	💍 1902/5351
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	32	30
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Napier
Folio	02/5067
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 December 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).