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 1262

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 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

103

17 February 1903

Arthur Maxwell
Alice Mary Mills

Arthur Maxwell
Alice May Mills
💍 1903/601

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

21
19

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
19 years

St. Patrick's Cathedral

03/149

John Mills, father

17 February 1903

Rev. J. F. Patterson, Roman Catholic

No	103
Date of Notice	17 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Maxwell	Alice Mary Mills
BDM Match (97%)	Arthur Maxwell	Alice May Mills
	💍 1903/601
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Cathedral
Folio	03/149
Consent	John Mills, father
Date of Certificate	17 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Patterson, Roman Catholic

104

17 February 1903

William John Porter
Augusta Surman

William John Carter
Augusta Lurman
💍 1903/418

Bachelor
Spinster

Stationer

26
24

Auckland
Auckland

26 years
24 years

St. Paul's Church

03/75

17 February 1903

Rev. C. H. Carver, Church of England

No	104
Date of Notice	17 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Porter	Augusta Surman
BDM Match (91%)	William John Carter	Augusta Lurman
	💍 1903/418
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stationer
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	26 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church
Folio	03/75
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Carver, Church of England

105

17 February 1903

Mark Johnston
Florence Eleanor Walker

Mark Johnston
Florence Eleanor Walker
💍 1903/540

Widower
Spinster

Settler

44
32

Auckland
Auckland

5 years
4 years

Registrar's Office

03/22

17 February 1903

S. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	105
Date of Notice	17 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Mark Johnston	Florence Eleanor Walker
	💍 1903/540
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	44	32
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	03/22
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1903
Officiating Minister	S. H. Lyons, Registrar

106

17 February 1903

William McKenize
Mary Ann Gertrude London

William McKenzie
Mary Ann Gertrude Lundon
💍 1903/3010

William Holloway
Mary Ann Gertrude Richardson
💍 1903/2363

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Housekeeper

41
38

Auckland
Auckland

12 months
3 years

St. Patrick's Presbytery

03/2903

17 February 1903

Very Rev. D. O. Egan, Roman Catholic

No	106
Date of Notice	17 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McKenize	Mary Ann Gertrude London
BDM Match (92%)	William McKenzie	Mary Ann Gertrude Lundon
	💍 1903/3010
BDM Match (63%)	William Holloway	Mary Ann Gertrude Richardson
	💍 1903/2363
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Housekeeper
Age	41	38
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	12 months	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Presbytery
Folio	03/2903
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. D. O. Egan, Roman Catholic

107

17 February 1903

Andrew Thomas Gussy
Mary Ann Leonard

Andrew Thomas Gussy
Mary Anne Leonard
💍 1903/600

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

22
20

Auckland
Auckland

12 years
2 years

St. Patrick's Cathedral

03/148

Matthew Leonard, father

17 February 1903

Rev. J. F. Patterson, Roman Catholic

No	107
Date of Notice	17 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Thomas Gussy	Mary Ann Leonard
BDM Match (97%)	Andrew Thomas Gussy	Mary Anne Leonard
	💍 1903/600
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	12 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Cathedral
Folio	03/148
Consent	Matthew Leonard, father
Date of Certificate	17 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Patterson, Roman Catholic

108

17 February 1903

John Harrold Moody
Frances Sarah Harding

John Harrold Moody
Frances Sarah Harding
💍 1903/577

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

28
33

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
12 years

St. Paul's Church

03/90

17 February 1903

Rev. Canon C. H. Nelson, Church of England

No	108
Date of Notice	17 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Harrold Moody	Frances Sarah Harding
	💍 1903/577
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	28	33
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	12 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church
Folio	03/90
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon C. H. Nelson, 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).