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 1209

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 June 1903

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

396

15 June 1903

William Adamson
Mary Susannah Bowden

[No matching marriage registration has been located]

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill Hand

23
21

Auckland
Auckland

2 3/4 years
1 year

St. Matthew's Church

03/735

15 June 1903

Rev. W. E. Sillam, Church of England

No	396
Date of Notice	15 June 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Adamson	Mary Susannah Bowden
	💍 [No matching marriage registration has been located]
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill Hand
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 3/4 years	1 year
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church
Folio	03/735
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 June 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Sillam, Church of England

397

15 June 1903

Harry Walter Dix
Mary Grace Rennell

Harry Walter Dix
Mary Grace Rennie
💍 1903/2113

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

50
31

Auckland
Remuera

6 years
1 year

St. Luke's Church

03/1611

15 June 1903

Rev. S. B. Hoare, Presbyterian

No	397
Date of Notice	15 June 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Walter Dix	Mary Grace Rennell
BDM Match (92%)	Harry Walter Dix	Mary Grace Rennie
	💍 1903/2113
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	50	31
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Remuera
Length of Residence	6 years	1 year
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church
Folio	03/1611
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 June 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. B. Hoare, Presbyterian

398

15 June 1903

Samuel Saty O'Brien
Frances Ruth Laing

Samuel Taty O'Brien
Frances Ruth Laing
💍 1903/2040

Bachelor
Spinster

Fitter

30
29

Auckland
Auckland

2 years
1 year

Registrar's Office

03/1538

15 June 1903

S. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	398
Date of Notice	15 June 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Saty O'Brien	Frances Ruth Laing
BDM Match (97%)	Samuel Taty O'Brien	Frances Ruth Laing
	💍 1903/2040
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fitter
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	03/1538
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 June 1903
Officiating Minister	S. H. Lyons, Registrar

399

15 June 1903

Maurice Patrick Kearin
Catherine Christina Holton

Maurice Patrick Kearin
Catherine Christina Holton
💍 1903/2138

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

25
22

Auckland
Auckland

25 years
3 years

Roman Catholic Church, Onehunga

03/1637

15 June 1903

Very Rev. J. P. Park, Roman Catholic

No	399
Date of Notice	15 June 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Maurice Patrick Kearin	Catherine Christina Holton
	💍 1903/2138
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	25 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Onehunga
Folio	03/1637
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 June 1903
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. J. P. Park, Roman Catholic

400

15 June 1903

Lawrence Seraghty
Adelaide Johnson

Laurence Geraghty
Adelaide Johnson
💍 1903/4900

Bachelor
Spinster

Plasterer

26
20

Auckland
Auckland

1 year
1 year

Roman Catholic Church, Remuera

03/1789

15 June 1903

Rev. John O. Kehoe, Roman Catholic

No	400
Date of Notice	15 June 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lawrence Seraghty	Adelaide Johnson
BDM Match (94%)	Laurence Geraghty	Adelaide Johnson
	💍 1903/4900
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plasterer
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Remuera
Folio	03/1789
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 June 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. John O. Kehoe, Roman Catholic

401

15 June 1903

Francis James Short
Mildred Wilson Harris

Francis James Short
Mildred Wilson Harris
💍 1903/2067

Bachelor
Spinster

Dental Surgeon

26
28

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
2 1/2 years

St. Barnabas Church, Mount Eden

03/1565

15 June 1903

Rev. S. H. Laing, Church of England

No	401
Date of Notice	15 June 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis James Short	Mildred Wilson Harris
	💍 1903/2067
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dental Surgeon
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	St. Barnabas Church, Mount Eden
Folio	03/1565
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 June 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. H. Laing, 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).