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 512

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

100

24 December 1902

Charles Higgs
Evelyn Maud Austin Smith

Charles Higgs
Maud Evelyn Austin Smith
💍 1902/5356

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

25
24

Napier
Napier

6 Days
7 months

The Cathedral at Napier

02/5089

29 December 1902

Very Rev. Dean Hovell

No	100
Date of Notice	24 December 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Higgs	Evelyn Maud Austin Smith
BDM Match (79%)	Charles Higgs	Maud Evelyn Austin Smith
	💍 1902/5356
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	6 Days	7 months
Marriage Place	The Cathedral at Napier
Folio	02/5089
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1902
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean Hovell

101

27 December 1902

Charles Leaning Welch
Mabel Daisy Austin Smith

Charles Leannig Welch
Mabel Daisey Austin-Smith
💍 1902/5343

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

22
20

Napier
Napier

3 Days
7 months

St. Augustines Church of England

02/5077

George John Muhleisen, Step Father

27 December 1902

Rev. C. L. Tuke

No	101
Date of Notice	27 December 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Leaning Welch	Mabel Daisy Austin Smith
BDM Match (91%)	Charles Leannig Welch	Mabel Daisey Austin-Smith
	💍 1902/5343
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 Days	7 months
Marriage Place	St. Augustines Church of England
Folio	02/5077
Consent	George John Muhleisen, Step Father
Date of Certificate	27 December 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. L. Tuke

102

27 December 1902

Alexander Sim Hepburn
Ann Farmer

Alexander Sim Hepburn
Ann Farmer
💍 1902/5358

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

33
24

Greenmeadows
Greenmeadows

10 years
20 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Napier

02/5068

27 December 1902

John Burden, Registrar of Marriages, Napier

No	102
Date of Notice	27 December 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Sim Hepburn	Ann Farmer
	💍 1902/5358
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	Greenmeadows	Greenmeadows
Length of Residence	10 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Napier
Folio	02/5068
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 December 1902
Officiating Minister	John Burden, Registrar of Marriages, Napier

103

29 December 1902

John Woodfield
Helen Hatokins

John Woodfield
Helen Hawkins
💍 1903/1394

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

36
24

Taradale
Greenmeadows

16 years
10 years

Methodist Church at Greenmeadows

02/5097

29 December 1902

Rev. E. E. Beecroft

No	103
Date of Notice	29 December 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Woodfield	Helen Hatokins
BDM Match (93%)	John Woodfield	Helen Hawkins
	💍 1903/1394
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	36	24
Dwelling Place	Taradale	Greenmeadows
Length of Residence	16 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church at Greenmeadows
Folio	02/5097
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. E. Beecroft

104

29 December 1902

Joseph Samuel Thompson
Isabella Agnes Miller

Joseph Samuel Thompson
Isabella Agnes Miller
💍 1902/5352

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Officer
School Teacher

31
30

Napier
Napier

3 Days
30 years

In the Residence of the Bride's Parents

02/5085

29 December 1902

Rev. J. A. Asher

No	104
Date of Notice	29 December 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Samuel Thompson	Isabella Agnes Miller
	💍 1902/5352
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Officer	School Teacher
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 Days	30 years
Marriage Place	In the Residence of the Bride's Parents
Folio	02/5085
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).