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 122

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

119

11 March 1902

Henry Thomas Norton
Florence Margaret Matthews

Henry Thomas Norton
Florence Margaret Matthews
💍 1902/2714

Bachelor
Spinster

Boatbuilder

21
20

Wellington
Wellington

12 years
16 years

Primitive Methodist Church, Sydney Street

02/804

Charlotte Frances Matthews, Mother

11 March 1902

Rev G. J. C. Mann

No	119
Date of Notice	11 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Thomas Norton	Florence Margaret Matthews
	💍 1902/2714
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boatbuilder
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Sydney Street
Folio	02/804
Consent	Charlotte Frances Matthews, Mother
Date of Certificate	11 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev G. J. C. Mann

120

11 March 1902

Kenneth Farquhar McCrae
Helen Florence Speedy

Kenneth Farquhar McCrae
Helen Florence Speedy
💍 1902/2768

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk

34
33

Wellington
Wellington

6 days
6 days

Sir Pauls pro Cathedral, Wellington

02/681

11 March 1902

Rev T. H. Sprott

No	120
Date of Notice	11 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth Farquhar McCrae	Helen Florence Speedy
	💍 1902/2768
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk
Age	34	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 days	6 days
Marriage Place	Sir Pauls pro Cathedral, Wellington
Folio	02/681
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev T. H. Sprott

121

11 March 1902

John Robertson Colvin Gondie
Olive Kathleen Prince

John Robertson Colvin Goudie
Olive Kathleen Prince
💍 1902/2840

Bachelor
Spinster

Steward
Factory Forewoman

28
21

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
2 years

Mrs Fox's Residence, 2 Clayton Ave

02/722

11 March 1902

Rev J. K. Elliott

No	121
Date of Notice	11 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Robertson Colvin Gondie	Olive Kathleen Prince
BDM Match (98%)	John Robertson Colvin Goudie	Olive Kathleen Prince
	💍 1902/2840
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Steward	Factory Forewoman
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Mrs Fox's Residence, 2 Clayton Ave
Folio	02/722
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev J. K. Elliott

122

11 March 1902

Alfred Jeanner
Alice Sarne Soper

Alfred Leamer
Alice Jane Soper
💍 1902/2751

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner

23
21

Wellington
Wellington

23 years
3 months

St Marks Church, Wellington

02/688

11 March 1902

Rev Mr R. Coffey

No	122
Date of Notice	11 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Jeanner	Alice Sarne Soper
BDM Match (83%)	Alfred Leamer	Alice Jane Soper
	💍 1902/2751
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	23 years	3 months
Marriage Place	St Marks Church, Wellington
Folio	02/688
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev Mr R. Coffey

123

11 March 1902

Walter Bazire Messenger
Emma Etty Lancaster

Walter Bazire Messenger
Emma Etty Lancaster
💍 1902/1266

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

32
30

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
30 years

St Marys Church, Karori

02/935

11 March 1902

Rev M. A. Hansell

No	123
Date of Notice	11 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Bazire Messenger	Emma Etty Lancaster
	💍 1902/1266
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	32	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	30 years
Marriage Place	St Marys Church, Karori
Folio	02/935
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev M. A. Hansell

124

12 March 1902

Ernest George Sames
Sarah Ellen Backhouse

Ernest George James
Sarah Ellen Backhouse
💍 1902/2758

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Machinist

27
19

Wellington
Wellington

7 years
8 years

St Peters Church, Willis Street, Wellington

02/694

Tom Backhouse, Father

12 March 1902

Rev W. C. Waters

No	124
Date of Notice	12 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest George Sames	Sarah Ellen Backhouse
BDM Match (97%)	Ernest George James	Sarah Ellen Backhouse
	💍 1902/2758
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Machinist
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St Peters Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	02/694
Consent	Tom Backhouse, Father
Date of Certificate	12 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev W. C. Waters

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).