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 596

District of Stratford Quarter ending 30 September 1903 Registrar L. J. James

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

3 August 1903

Thomas James Edwards
Eleanor Charity Thompson

Thomas James Edwards
Eleanor Charity Thompson
💍 1903/4297

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23
19

Ngaire
Ngaire

4 years
4 years

The Church at Ngaire

03/4058

Mary Jane Thompson, Mother

3 August 1903

Rev. E. J. McConnel, Church of England

No	41
Date of Notice	3 August 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas James Edwards	Eleanor Charity Thompson
	💍 1903/4297
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Ngaire	Ngaire
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	The Church at Ngaire
Folio	03/4058
Consent	Mary Jane Thompson, Mother
Date of Certificate	3 August 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. J. McConnel, Church of England

10 August 1903

Francis Arthur James Lee
Emily Ruff

Francis Arthur James Lee
Emily Ruff
💍 1903/4050

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper

26
20

Ngaire
Ngaire

2 1/2 years
20 years

Residence of Arthur Ruff, Ngaire

03/3609

Arthur Ruff, father

10 August 1903

Rev. J. B. Worlocall, Primitive Methodist

No	42
Date of Notice	10 August 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Arthur James Lee	Emily Ruff
	💍 1903/4050
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Ngaire	Ngaire
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Arthur Ruff, Ngaire
Folio	03/3609
Consent	Arthur Ruff, father
Date of Certificate	10 August 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. B. Worlocall, Primitive Methodist

15 August 1903

Charles Frederick Albert Volzke
Martha Mary Askew

Charles Frederick Albert Volzke
Martha Mary Askew
💍 1903/4041

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
18

Midhirst
Midhirst

25 years
18 years

The Church of England at Midhirst

03/3601

Aaron Askew, father

15 August 1903

Rev. local A. B. Watson, Church of England

No	43
Date of Notice	15 August 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Frederick Albert Volzke	Martha Mary Askew
	💍 1903/4041
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	18
Dwelling Place	Midhirst	Midhirst
Length of Residence	25 years	18 years
Marriage Place	The Church of England at Midhirst
Folio	03/3601
Consent	Aaron Askew, father
Date of Certificate	15 August 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. local A. B. Watson, Church of England

19 August 1903

Joseph Miller
Annie Rzoska

[No matching marriage registration has been located]

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32
21

Waipuku
Carterton

3 years
2 1/2 years

The Roman Catholic Church at Stratford

03/3604

19 August 1903

Rev. Father P. Treacy, Roman Catholic

No	44
Date of Notice	19 August 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Miller	Annie Rzoska
	💍 [No matching marriage registration has been located]
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Waipuku	Carterton
Length of Residence	3 years	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic Church at Stratford
Folio	03/3604
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 August 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father P. Treacy, Roman Catholic

31 August 1903

Leonard Corbett Taylor
Amy Brown

Leonard Corbett Taylor
Amy Brown
💍 1903/4049

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

21
21

Stratford
Stratford

3 months
3 months

The residence of Frank Taylor, East Road, Stratford

03/3608

31 August 1903

Rev. J. A. Lochore, Wesleyan

No	45
Date of Notice	31 August 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Corbett Taylor	Amy Brown
	💍 1903/4049
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	3 months	3 months
Marriage Place	The residence of Frank Taylor, East Road, Stratford
Folio	03/3608
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Lochore, Wesleyan

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).