Intentions to Marry, 1903 North Island

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840423, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, October 10 2025

1903 is bound in two volumes, North Island districts and South Island districts.

Page 067

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1903 Registrar F. W. 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

433

29 July 1903

William Henry Ganaway
Edith Agnes Matthews

William Henry Ganaway
Edith Agnes Matthews
💍 1903/190

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

36
29

Wellington
Wellington

10 months
16 years

St. Peters Church, Willis St., Wellington

03/3942

29 July 1903

Rev. G. P. Darzo

No	433
Date of Notice	29 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Ganaway	Edith Agnes Matthews
	💍 1903/190
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	36	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 months	16 years
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church, Willis St., Wellington
Folio	03/3942
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. P. Darzo

434

29 July 1903

Henry Boniface
Minnie Pratt

Henry Boniface
Minnie Pratt
💍 1903/4281

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

26
26

Mitchelltown
Mitchelltown

3 years
22 years

Residence of Mr. W. Proudfoot, Mt. Pleasant, Mitchelltown

03/4015

29 July 1903

Rev. W. C. Oliver

No	434
Date of Notice	29 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Boniface	Minnie Pratt
	💍 1903/4281
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Mitchelltown	Mitchelltown
Length of Residence	3 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. W. Proudfoot, Mt. Pleasant, Mitchelltown
Folio	03/4015
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. C. Oliver

435

29 July 1903

Stephen Edward William Penfold
Julia O'Sullivan

Stephen Edward William Penfold
Julia OSullivan
💍 1903/3699

Widower
Spinster

Driver
Machinist

30
34

Wellington
Wellington

28 years
4 years

St. Mary of the Angels, Boulcott Street, Wellington

03/3995

29 July 1903

Rev. J. O'Shea

No	435
Date of Notice	29 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stephen Edward William Penfold	Julia O'Sullivan
BDM Match (97%)	Stephen Edward William Penfold	Julia OSullivan
	💍 1903/3699
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Driver	Machinist
Age	30	34
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	28 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary of the Angels, Boulcott Street, Wellington
Folio	03/3995
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. O'Shea

436

30 July 1903

Edgar Vernon Bevan
Mary Caroline Travers

Edgar Vernon Bevan
Mary Carolyne Trams
💍 1903/189

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

26
22

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
13 years

St. Peters Church

03/3941

30 July 1903

Rev. G. P. Darzo

No	436
Date of Notice	30 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar Vernon Bevan	Mary Caroline Travers
BDM Match (91%)	Edgar Vernon Bevan	Mary Carolyne Trams
	💍 1903/189
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	13 years
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church
Folio	03/3941
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. P. Darzo

437

31 July 1903

Isaac Pierson
Annie Melville

Isaac Pierson
Annie Melville
💍 1903/4195

Bachelor
Widow

Blacksmith

48
46

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

Registrars Office

03/3898

31 July 1903

F. W. Mansfield, Registrar

No	437
Date of Notice	31 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Isaac Pierson	Annie Melville
	💍 1903/4195
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	48	46
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office
Folio	03/3898
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1903
Officiating Minister	F. W. Mansfield, Registrar

438

31 July 1903

Eustace Hazledon Solomon
Clara Hummick

Eustace Hazledon Solomon
Clara Hunwick
💍 1903/4196

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic

25
25

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
6 years

Registrars Office

03/3899

31 July 1903

F. W. Mansfield, Registrar

No	438
Date of Notice	31 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eustace Hazledon Solomon	Clara Hummick
BDM Match (92%)	Eustace Hazledon Solomon	Clara Hunwick
	💍 1903/4196
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office
Folio	03/3899
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1903
Officiating Minister	F. W. Mansfield, Registrar

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).