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 543

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 March 1903 Registrar John Burdin

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

24 January 1903

Waihato Mohipangopango
Ruku Karaitiana

Waikato Mohipangopango
Ruku Karaitiana
💍 1903/3066

Bachelor
Spinster

Maori Chief
Native

27
22

Petane
Petane

27 years
5 months

In The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Napier

03/374

24 January 1903

John Burdin, Registrar

No	6
Date of Notice	24 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Waihato Mohipangopango	Ruku Karaitiana
BDM Match (98%)	Waikato Mohipangopango	Ruku Karaitiana
	💍 1903/3066
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Maori Chief	Native
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Petane	Petane
Length of Residence	27 years	5 months
Marriage Place	In The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Napier
Folio	03/374
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1903
Officiating Minister	John Burdin, Registrar

29 January 1903

Robert Kerr McNee Griffin
Mary Adelia McCarthy

Robert Kerr McNee Griffin
Mary Adelia McCarthy
💍 1903/1390

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic Duties

25
21

Napier
Napier

2 years
2 years

At the Mission Station, Meanee

03/393

29 January 1903

Rev. F. Gardin

No	7
Date of Notice	29 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Kerr McNee Griffin	Mary Adelia McCarthy
	💍 1903/1390
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic Duties
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	At the Mission Station, Meanee
Folio	03/393
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Gardin

4 February 1903

John Joseph Clarke
Emily Eliza Holmes

John Joseph Clarke
Eliza Emily Holmes
💍 1903/1393

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman
Domestic

24
27

Napier
Napier

24 years
27 years

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church

03/396

4 February 1903

Very Rev. Dean Grogan

No	8
Date of Notice	4 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Joseph Clarke	Emily Eliza Holmes
BDM Match (83%)	John Joseph Clarke	Eliza Emily Holmes
	💍 1903/1393
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman	Domestic
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	24 years	27 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church
Folio	03/396
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean Grogan

6 February 1903

Joseph Gigg
Lily Taylor

Joseph Gigg
Lily Taylor
💍 1903/1396

Joseph Hiller Boos
Lillie Taylor
💍 1903/4307

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic

22
21

Napier
Napier

8 months
6 months

The Residence of Mr. Gornus, Marine Parade, Napier

03/398

6 February 1903

Rev. E. F. Beecroft

No	9
Date of Notice	6 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Gigg	Lily Taylor
	💍 1903/1396
BDM Match (61%)	Joseph Hiller Boos	Lillie Taylor
	💍 1903/4307
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	8 months	6 months
Marriage Place	The Residence of Mr. Gornus, Marine Parade, Napier
Folio	03/398
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. F. Beecroft

10 February 1903

Harry Harcourt
Martha Antoynette Anderson

Harry Harcourt
Martha Antoynette Anderson
💍 1903/1374

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Manager
Housekeeper

38
25

Napier
Napier

3 days
25 years

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Napier

03/375

10 February 1903

John Burdin, Registrar

No	10
Date of Notice	10 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Harcourt	Martha Antoynette Anderson
	💍 1903/1374
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Manager	Housekeeper
Age	38	25
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	25 years
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Napier
Folio	03/375
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1903
Officiating Minister	John Burdin, 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).