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 321

District of Hunterville Quarter ending 31 March 1902 Registrar Reginald Sherman

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

201

22 January 1902

Francis Henry Watts
Agnes Parker

Francis Henry Watts
Agnes Parker
💍 1902/2360

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Domestic

34 years
31

Mangato Ri
Hunterville

1 year
9 years

Residence of Charles Parker

02/531

22 March 1902

Rev. J. L. Dove, Anglican Clergyman, Hunterville

No	201
Date of Notice	22 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Henry Watts	Agnes Parker
	💍 1902/2360
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Domestic
Age	34 years	31
Dwelling Place	Mangato Ri	Hunterville
Length of Residence	1 year	9 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Charles Parker
Folio	02/531
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. L. Dove, Anglican Clergyman, Hunterville

202

27 February 1902

Samuel Ash Smith
Clara Sears

Samuel Ash
Clara Sears
💍 1902/2361

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

49
38

Hunterville
Raupo Kororo, Hunterville

15 years
6 months

Residence of Frank Smith, Raupo Kororo

02/532

27 February 1902

Rev. H. Ward of Marton

No	202
Date of Notice	27 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Ash Smith	Clara Sears
BDM Match (81%)	Samuel Ash	Clara Sears
	💍 1902/2361
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	49	38
Dwelling Place	Hunterville	Raupo Kororo, Hunterville
Length of Residence	15 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Frank Smith, Raupo Kororo
Folio	02/532
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Ward of Marton

203

1 March 1902

John Charles Cameron
Maggie Rowles

John Charles Cameron
Maggie Rowles
💍 1902/2359

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

32
21

Hunterville
Hunterville

30 years
6 months

Office of Registrar, Hunterville

02/530

1 March 1902

Reginald Sherman, Registrar of Marriages, Hunterville

No	203
Date of Notice	1 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Charles Cameron	Maggie Rowles
	💍 1902/2359
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Hunterville	Hunterville
Length of Residence	30 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar, Hunterville
Folio	02/530
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Reginald Sherman, Registrar of Marriages, Hunterville

204

2 March 1902

James Gahn
Caroline Floyd

James Gahan
Caroline Floyd
💍 1902/2362

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

24
20

Hunterville
Hunterville

5 years
3 months

Residence of William Frampton, Hunterville

02/533

James Floyd, father of Caroline Floyd

21 March 1902

Rev. D. Stowell, Presbyterian Minister, Hunterville

No	204
Date of Notice	2 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Gahn	Caroline Floyd
BDM Match (95%)	James Gahan	Caroline Floyd
	💍 1902/2362
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Hunterville	Hunterville
Length of Residence	5 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Residence of William Frampton, Hunterville
Folio	02/533
Consent	James Floyd, father of Caroline Floyd
Date of Certificate	21 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Stowell, Presbyterian Minister, Hunterville

205

29 March 1902

Henry George Ritchfield
Maggie Moses

Henry George Ritchfield
Maggie Mosen
💍 1902/2363

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic

30 years
21 years

Rata
Rata

1 month
5 years

Residence of Joseph Moses, Rata

02/534

29 March 1902

Rev. D. Stowell, Presbyterian Minister, Hunterville

No	205
Date of Notice	29 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry George Ritchfield	Maggie Moses
BDM Match (96%)	Henry George Ritchfield	Maggie Mosen
	💍 1902/2363
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic
Age	30 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Rata	Rata
Length of Residence	1 month	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Joseph Moses, Rata
Folio	02/534
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Stowell, Presbyterian Minister, Hunterville

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).