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 262

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 31 March 1903 Registrar Robt. C. Keeling

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

13 January 1903

Walter Douglas Burgess
Lucy Reynolds

Walter Douglas Burgess
Lucy Reynolds
💍 1903/1470

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

22 years
19 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
3 days

At the office of the Registrar, Palmerston North

03/531

William Reynolds, father

13 January 1903

Robt. C. Keeling, Registrar, Palmerston North

No	7
Date of Notice	13 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Douglas Burgess	Lucy Reynolds
	💍 1903/1470
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	22 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar, Palmerston North
Folio	03/531
Consent	William Reynolds, father
Date of Certificate	13 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Robt. C. Keeling, Registrar, Palmerston North

15 January 1903

Alfred John Mahon
Annie Wackley

Alfred John Mahon
Annie Walkley
💍 1903/1462

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

30 years
25 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

7 years
7 years

At St. Patrick's Church, Palmerston North

03/525

15 January 1903

Rev. P. W. Symons, C. P., Palmerston North

No	8
Date of Notice	15 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred John Mahon	Annie Wackley
BDM Match (96%)	Alfred John Mahon	Annie Walkley
	💍 1903/1462
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	30 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	At St. Patrick's Church, Palmerston North
Folio	03/525
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. W. Symons, C. P., Palmerston North

19 January 1903

Robert James Horn
Christina Foley

Robert James Horn
Christina Foley
💍 1903/1468

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26 years
28 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

18 years
14 years

At the house of Robert Horn, Palmerston North

03/529

19 January 1903

Rev. S. J. Baker, Congregationalist Minister, Palmerston North

No	9
Date of Notice	19 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert James Horn	Christina Foley
	💍 1903/1468
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	18 years	14 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Robert Horn, Palmerston North
Folio	03/529
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. J. Baker, Congregationalist Minister, Palmerston North

22 January 1903

Thomas Alexander Walker
Annie Common

Thomas Alexander Walker
Annie Common
💍 1903/1452

Bachelor
Spinster

Express Driver

24 years
22 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

4 months
1 month

At the office of the Registrar, Palmerston North

03/533

22 January 1903

Robt. C. Keeling, Registrar, Palmerston North

No	10
Date of Notice	22 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Alexander Walker	Annie Common
	💍 1903/1452
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Express Driver
Age	24 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	4 months	1 month
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar, Palmerston North
Folio	03/533
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Robt. C. Keeling, Registrar, Palmerston North

28 January 1903

Frederick Gunn
Mary Edith Goldfinch

Frederick Gunn
Edith Mary Goldfinch
💍 1903/1124

Bachelor
Spinster

French Polisher

21 years
17 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

10 months
7 years

At the house of A. Goldfinch, Palmerston North

03/1446

Adolph Goldfinch, father

28 January 1903

Rev. J. W. Newbold, Methodist Minister, Palmerston North

No	11
Date of Notice	28 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Gunn	Mary Edith Goldfinch
BDM Match (75%)	Frederick Gunn	Edith Mary Goldfinch
	💍 1903/1124
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	French Polisher
Age	21 years	17 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	10 months	7 years
Marriage Place	At the house of A. Goldfinch, Palmerston North
Folio	03/1446
Consent	Adolph Goldfinch, father
Date of Certificate	28 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Newbold, Methodist Minister, Palmerston North

28 January 1903

Robert Stafford Adams
Frances Marguerite Llewellyn

Robert Stafford Adams
Frances Marguerite Llewellyn
💍 1903/1457

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

25 years
22 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
10 years

Broad Street Methodist Church, Palmerston North

03/539

28 January 1903

Rev. S. Laury, Methodist Minister, Palmerston North

No	12
Date of Notice	28 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Stafford Adams	Frances Marguerite Llewellyn
	💍 1903/1457
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	25 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	10 years
Marriage Place	Broad Street Methodist Church, Palmerston North
Folio	03/539
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Laury, Methodist Minister, Palmerston North

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).