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 273

District of Pahiatua Quarter ending 31 March 1903 Registrar William J. Reeve

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

19 January 1903

Thomas Samuel Pickering
Alice Wouldes

Thomas Samuel Pickering
Alice Wouldes
💍 1903/767

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Cook

35
29

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

10 years
2 years

Registrar's Office, Pahiatua

03/507

19 January 1903

William J. Reeve, Registrar

No	6
Date of Notice	19 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Samuel Pickering	Alice Wouldes
	💍 1903/767
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Cook
Age	35	29
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	10 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Pahiatua
Folio	03/507
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1903
Officiating Minister	William J. Reeve, Registrar

26 January 1903

Walter James Hill
Eleanor Morrison

Walter James Hill
Eleanor Morrison
💍 1903/765

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotel Manager
Home duties

38
33

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

4 days
6 months

Presbyterian Church, Napier

03/505

26 January 1903

Rev. James McCaw, Presbyterian

No	7
Date of Notice	26 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter James Hill	Eleanor Morrison
	💍 1903/765
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotel Manager	Home duties
Age	38	33
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	4 days	6 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Napier
Folio	03/505
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. James McCaw, Presbyterian

17 February 1903

Charles Ernest Ewing
Annie Taylor Hogg

Charles Ernest Irving
Anne Taylor Hogg
💍 1903/747

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
House duties

29
27

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

11 years
2 months

Church of England, Pahiatua

03/510

17 February 1903

Rev. H. S. Searle, Church of England

No	8
Date of Notice	17 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Ernest Ewing	Annie Taylor Hogg
BDM Match (90%)	Charles Ernest Irving	Anne Taylor Hogg
	💍 1903/747
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	House duties
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	11 years	2 months
Marriage Place	Church of England, Pahiatua
Folio	03/510
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. S. Searle, Church of England

21 February 1903

James Patrick Beech
Annie Gregg

James Patrick Beech
Annie McConnell Gregg
💍 1903/1380

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
House duties

39
24

Pahiatua
Dannevirke

17 years
6 months

Roman Catholic Church, Dannevirke

03/359

21 February 1903

Rev. F. W. McKenna, Roman Catholic

No	9
Date of Notice	21 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Patrick Beech	Annie Gregg
BDM Match (76%)	James Patrick Beech	Annie McConnell Gregg
	💍 1903/1380
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	House duties
Age	39	24
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	17 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Dannevirke
Folio	03/359
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. W. McKenna, Roman Catholic

20 March 1903

Alfred Arthur Warner
Florence Eveline Legg

Alfred Arthur Warner
Florence Eveline Legg
💍 1903/1499

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Teacher

35
23

Kaitawa
Wellington

2 years
16 years

St. Mark's Church of England, Wellington

03/656

20 March 1903

Rev. Richard Coffey, Church of England

No	10
Date of Notice	20 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Arthur Warner	Florence Eveline Legg
	💍 1903/1499
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Teacher
Age	35	23
Dwelling Place	Kaitawa	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	16 years
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church of England, Wellington
Folio	03/656
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 March 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. Richard Coffey, Church of England

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).