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 1225

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

300

2 May 1903

Frederick John Kearns
Elizabeth Mary Pelley

Frederick John Kearns
Elizabeth Mary Pelley
💍 1903/2004

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

39
24

Auckland
Auckland

39 years
24 years

Registrar's Office

03/1578

2 May 1903

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	300
Date of Notice	2 May 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick John Kearns	Elizabeth Mary Pelley
	💍 1903/2004
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	39	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	39 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	03/1578
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 May 1903
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

301

4 May 1903

Arthur McDonald
Elinor Clough

Arthur McDonald
Elinor Clough
💍 1903/2152

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

23
27

Auckland
27 Hepburn Street

23 years

House of W. S. Potter

03/1657

4 May 1903

Rev. W. S. Potter, Primitive Methodist

No	301
Date of Notice	4 May 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur McDonald	Elinor Clough
	💍 1903/2152
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	23	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	27 Hepburn Street
Length of Residence	23 years
Marriage Place	House of W. S. Potter
Folio	03/1657
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 May 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Potter, Primitive Methodist

302

5 May 1903

Albert Edward Smith
Catherine Smith

Albert Edward Smith
Catherine Smith
💍 1903/2157

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

21
19

Auckland
16 Potter

21 years

House of Henry Smith

03/1658

Henry Smith, father of bride

5 May 1903

Rev. W. S. Potter, Primitive Methodist

No	302
Date of Notice	5 May 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward Smith	Catherine Smith
	💍 1903/2157
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	16 Potter
Length of Residence	21 years
Marriage Place	House of Henry Smith
Folio	03/1658
Consent	Henry Smith, father of bride
Date of Certificate	5 May 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Potter, Primitive Methodist

303

5 May 1903

Francis O'Carroll
Ellen O'Brien

Francis OCarroll
Ellen OBrien
💍 1903/4922

Widower
Spinster

Farmer

36
33

Auckland
Parnell

3 days
24 years

Roman Catholic Church

03/1787

5 May 1903

Rev. J. Kehoe, Roman Catholic

No	303
Date of Notice	5 May 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis O'Carroll	Ellen O'Brien
BDM Match (93%)	Francis OCarroll	Ellen OBrien
	💍 1903/4922
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	36	33
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Parnell
Length of Residence	3 days	24 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	03/1787
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 May 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Kehoe, Roman Catholic

304

6 May 1903

John Vipond
Emily Louise Newcomber

John Vipond
Emily Louise Newcombe
💍 1903/2003

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

19
23

Auckland
Auckland

4 days
4 years

Registrar's Office

03/1579

Alfred Newcomber, father of bride

6 May 1903

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	304
Date of Notice	6 May 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Vipond	Emily Louise Newcomber
BDM Match (98%)	John Vipond	Emily Louise Newcombe
	💍 1903/2003
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	19	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 days	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	03/1579
Consent	Alfred Newcomber, father of bride
Date of Certificate	6 May 1903
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

305

6 May 1903

James Cato
Hilda Agnes Soares

James Cato
Hilda Agnes Soares
💍 1903/2096

Bachelor
Spinster

Musician

32
20

Auckland
20 Bride Street, Wellington

10 years

House of Martha Soares

03/1618

Martha Soares, mother of bride

6 May 1903

Rev. R. L. Walker, Presbyterian

No	305
Date of Notice	6 May 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Cato	Hilda Agnes Soares
	💍 1903/2096
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Musician
Age	32	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	20 Bride Street, Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years
Marriage Place	House of Martha Soares
Folio	03/1618
Consent	Martha Soares, mother of bride
Date of Certificate	6 May 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. L. Walker, Presbyterian

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).