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 1064

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 31 March 1903 Registrar George John Alexander Johnstone

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

1353

19 January 1903

Jonathan Hutchinson
Katherine Fraser McLean

Jonathan Hutchinson
Katherine Fraser McLean
💍 1903/3274

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer

30 years
30

Waihuka, Poverty Bay
Waihuka, Poverty Bay

15 years
12 years

Residence of Mrs. A. H. McLean

03/3287

19 January 1903

Rev. J. G. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	1353
Date of Notice	19 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jonathan Hutchinson	Katherine Fraser McLean
	💍 1903/3274
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer
Age	30 years	30
Dwelling Place	Waihuka, Poverty Bay	Waihuka, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	15 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. A. H. McLean
Folio	03/3287
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Paterson, Presbyterian

1354

27 January 1903

William Cooper
Anna Riste

William Cooper
Anna Lister
💍 1903/657

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

24 years
18

Ormond, Poverty Bay
Ormond, Poverty Bay

22 years
16 years

Residence of Mrs. Riste

03/213

Order of Supreme Court, 26 January 1903

27 January 1903

Rev. Robb Gardiner, Presbyterian

No	1354
Date of Notice	27 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Cooper	Anna Riste
BDM Match (91%)	William Cooper	Anna Lister
	💍 1903/657
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	24 years	18
Dwelling Place	Ormond, Poverty Bay	Ormond, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	22 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Riste
Folio	03/213
Consent	Order of Supreme Court, 26 January 1903
Date of Certificate	27 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robb Gardiner, Presbyterian

1355

28 January 1903

John Marshall
Mary Campbell

John Marshall
Mary Campbell
💍 1903/1343

John McDonald
Annie Campbell
💍 1903/1118

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Servant

26
21

Meanee, Hawkes Bay, Gisborne
Matawhero Valley, Poverty Bay

22 years
21 years

Residence of Mr. J. C. Craig, Gisborne

03/3288

28 January 1903

Rev. J. G. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	1355
Date of Notice	28 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Marshall	Mary Campbell
	💍 1903/1343
BDM Match (63%)	John McDonald	Annie Campbell
	💍 1903/1118
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Servant
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Meanee, Hawkes Bay, Gisborne	Matawhero Valley, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	22 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. C. Craig, Gisborne
Folio	03/3288
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Paterson, Presbyterian

1356

28 January 1903

George William Goodley
Edith Agnes Bukowsky

George William Goodley
Edith Agnes Bukowsky
💍 1903/625

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic Servant

31
31

Pakarae, Cook County
Whatatutu, Poverty Bay

9 years
13 months

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

03/199

28 January 1903

Registrar of Marriages

No	1356
Date of Notice	28 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Goodley	Edith Agnes Bukowsky
	💍 1903/625
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic Servant
Age	31	31
Dwelling Place	Pakarae, Cook County	Whatatutu, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	9 years	13 months
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	03/199
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

1357

3 February 1903

John Dever
Florence Miriam Worsnop

John Dever
Florence Miriam Worsnop
💍 1903/663

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Hand

26
23

Matawhero, Poverty Bay
Te Arai, Cook County

all his life
7 years

Residence of A. Worsnop, Cook County

03/214

3 February 1903

Rev. Robb Gardiner, Presbyterian

No	1357
Date of Notice	3 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Dever	Florence Miriam Worsnop
	💍 1903/663
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Hand
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Matawhero, Poverty Bay	Te Arai, Cook County
Length of Residence	all his life	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of A. Worsnop, Cook County
Folio	03/214
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robb Gardiner, Presbyterian

1358

9 February 1903

Arthur Macrorie Manning
Adelaide Winford Taylor

Arthur Macrorie Manning
Adelaide Winford Taylor
💍 1903/665

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer

25
22

Awapuni, Waiapu, Gisborne
Awapuni, Waiapu, Gisborne

3 years
1 week

Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne

03/216

9 February 1903

Rev. Walter Welch, Church of England

No	1358
Date of Notice	9 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Macrorie Manning	Adelaide Winford Taylor
	💍 1903/665
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Awapuni, Waiapu, Gisborne	Awapuni, Waiapu, Gisborne
Length of Residence	3 years	1 week
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne
Folio	03/216
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. Walter Welch, Church of England

1359

12 February 1903

Charles Magnus Henrikson
Amelia Holford

Charles Magnus Henrikson
Amelia Holford
💍 1903/626

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

35
20

Gisborne
Gisborne

3 years
all her life

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

03/200

Fredk. Holford, Father

12 February 1903

Registrar of Marriages

No	1359
Date of Notice	12 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Magnus Henrikson	Amelia Holford
	💍 1903/626
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	35	20
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	3 years	all her life
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	03/200
Consent	Fredk. Holford, Father
Date of Certificate	12 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

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).