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 093

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 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

270

30 May 1902

Henry Thomas Tonks
Corrie Hawkins

Henry Thomas Tonks
Carrie Hawkins
💍 1902/1615

Widower 8/11/1900
Spinster

Blacksmith

29
21

Kilbirnie
Karori

27 years
3 years

Residence of Enoch Tonks Webb Street Wellington

02/2298

30 May 1902

Rev W. C. Oliver

No	270
Date of Notice	30 May 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Thomas Tonks	Corrie Hawkins
BDM Match (96%)	Henry Thomas Tonks	Carrie Hawkins
	💍 1902/1615
Condition	Widower 8/11/1900	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Kilbirnie	Karori
Length of Residence	27 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Enoch Tonks Webb Street Wellington
Folio	02/2298
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev W. C. Oliver

271

30 May 1902

Graham Downs Douglas
Ellen Louisa Lane

Graham Burns Douglas
Ellen Lousia Lane
💍 1902/3991

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Tailoress

24
24

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
3 years

Residence of Rev S. Dawson 12 Webb St Wellington

02/3777

30 May 1902

Rev S. Dawson

No	271
Date of Notice	30 May 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Graham Downs Douglas	Ellen Louisa Lane
BDM Match (87%)	Graham Burns Douglas	Ellen Lousia Lane
	💍 1902/3991
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Tailoress
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev S. Dawson 12 Webb St Wellington
Folio	02/3777
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev S. Dawson

272

31 May 1902

William Arthur Fownes
Elizabeth Isabel Shearer

William Arthur Hunn
Elizabeth Isabel Shearer
💍 1902/1664

Bachelor
Spinster

Steward

22
24

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
24 years

Primitive Methodist Church Sydney Street Wellington

02/2322

31 May 1902

Rev S. Bailey

No	272
Date of Notice	31 May 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Arthur Fownes	Elizabeth Isabel Shearer
BDM Match (88%)	William Arthur Hunn	Elizabeth Isabel Shearer
	💍 1902/1664
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Steward
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church Sydney Street Wellington
Folio	02/2322
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev S. Bailey

273

31 May 1902

George Thomas Puddle
Clara Annie Gee

George Thomas Puddle
Clara Annie Gee
💍 1902/1665

Bachelor
Spinster

Spinner
Weaver

23
23

Petone
Petone

2 months
4 months

Residence of Mrs Gee Esplanade Petone

02/2323

31 May 1902

Rev S. Bailey

No	273
Date of Notice	31 May 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Thomas Puddle	Clara Annie Gee
	💍 1902/1665
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Spinner	Weaver
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	2 months	4 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Gee Esplanade Petone
Folio	02/2323
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev S. Bailey

1269

29 May 1902

Herbert Finch
Rose Hannah Richmond

Herbert Finch
Rose Hannah Richmond
💍 1902/1925

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic servant

23
20

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
2 years

St Peter's Church Wellington

02/2235

Sarah Margaret Johnson Mother

29 May 1902

Rev W. C. Waters

No	1269
Date of Notice	29 May 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Finch	Rose Hannah Richmond
	💍 1902/1925
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic servant
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church Wellington
Folio	02/2235
Consent	Sarah Margaret Johnson Mother
Date of Certificate	29 May 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).