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 137

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1902 Registrar Frederick William Mansfield

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

16 January 1902

Thomas Richard Ruscoe
Mary Quinlivan

Thomas Richard Ruscoe
Mary Quinlivan
💍 1902/2864

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

39
25

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
25 years

St Mary of the Angels Church Wellington

02/746

16 January 1902

Rev S. Ainsworth

No	28
Date of Notice	16 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Richard Ruscoe	Mary Quinlivan
	💍 1902/2864
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	39	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	25 years
Marriage Place	St Mary of the Angels Church Wellington
Folio	02/746
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev S. Ainsworth

16 January 1902

Thomas William Collier
Margaret Dorothea Walsh

Thomas William Collier
Margaret Dorothea Walsh
💍 1902/2733

Divorcee decree absolute 20/6/01
Spinster

Wool Scourer

29
25

Wellington
Wellington

12 years
12 months

Registrars office Wellington

02/644

16 January 1902

R Talbot Deputy Registrar

No	29
Date of Notice	16 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas William Collier	Margaret Dorothea Walsh
	💍 1902/2733
Condition	Divorcee decree absolute 20/6/01	Spinster
Profession	Wool Scourer
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 years	12 months
Marriage Place	Registrars office Wellington
Folio	02/644
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1902
Officiating Minister	R Talbot Deputy Registrar

16 January 1902

Henry Cole
Isabella Flowe

Widower
Spinster

Barman

43
28

Wellington
Wellington

1 week
1 week

Registrars office Wellington

16 January 1902

R Talbot Deputy Registrar

No	30
Date of Notice	16 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Cole	Isabella Flowe
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Barman
Age	43	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 week	1 week
Marriage Place	Registrars office Wellington
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1902
Officiating Minister	R Talbot Deputy Registrar

17 January 1902

George Rolland Irvine
Jessie Henderson Robson

George Rolland Irvine
Jessie Henderson Robson
💍 1902/2605

Widower
Spinster

Artist

37
36

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

St Pauls pro Cathedral Wellington

02/673

17 January 1902

Rev S.G.S. Bartlett

No	31
Date of Notice	17 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Rolland Irvine	Jessie Henderson Robson
	💍 1902/2605
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Artist
Age	37	36
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Pauls pro Cathedral Wellington
Folio	02/673
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev S.G.S. Bartlett

17 January 1902

Herbert Henry William Boddykinson
Agatha Sarah Clara Lee

Herbert Henry William Hodgkinson
Agatha Sarah Clara Lee
💍 1902/2865

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

27
18

Wellington
Wellington

3 weeks
3 weeks

St Mary of the Angels Church Wellington

02/747

Annie Lee Mother

17 January 1902

Rev T. O'Shea

No	32
Date of Notice	17 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Henry William Boddykinson	Agatha Sarah Clara Lee
BDM Match (95%)	Herbert Henry William Hodgkinson	Agatha Sarah Clara Lee
	💍 1902/2865
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	27	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 weeks	3 weeks
Marriage Place	St Mary of the Angels Church Wellington
Folio	02/747
Consent	Annie Lee Mother
Date of Certificate	17 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev T. O'Shea

17 January 1902

Michael Francis Aylward
Margaret Farrell

Michael Francis Aylward
Margaret Farrell
💍 1902/2866

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

33
25

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
3 years

St Mary of the Angels Church Wellington

02/748

17 January 1902

Rev T. O'Shea

No	33
Date of Notice	17 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Francis Aylward	Margaret Farrell
	💍 1902/2866
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St Mary of the Angels Church Wellington
Folio	02/748
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev T. O'Shea

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).