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 1266

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

7 February 1903

William John Molony
Horrace May Dorrington

William John Molony
Florence May Dorrington
💍 1903/610

Widower
Spinster

Gentleman

63
31

Auckland
Auckland

10 years
31 years

House of Mother of Bride, Auckland

03/157

7 February 1903

Rev. J. Clark, Baptist

No	79
Date of Notice	7 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Molony	Horrace May Dorrington
BDM Match (91%)	William John Molony	Florence May Dorrington
	💍 1903/610
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Gentleman
Age	63	31
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 years	31 years
Marriage Place	House of Mother of Bride, Auckland
Folio	03/157
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Clark, Baptist

9 February 1903

Thomas Lenihan
Annie Daley

Thomas Lenihan
Annie Daley
💍 1903/598

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

27
28

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
5 years

St. Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland

03/146

9 February 1903

Rev. J. L. Petterson, Roman Catholic

No	80
Date of Notice	9 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Lenihan	Annie Daley
	💍 1903/598
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland
Folio	03/146
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. L. Petterson, Roman Catholic

9 February 1903

Samuel Holmes Phillips
Jane Elizabeth McFarland

Samuel Holmes Phillips
Jane Elizabeth McFarland
💍 1903/441

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

31
25

Auckland
Auckland

2 weeks
2 weeks

St. David's Church, Khyber Pass

03/123

9 February 1903

Rev. W. F. Dixon, Presbyterian

No	81
Date of Notice	9 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Holmes Phillips	Jane Elizabeth McFarland
	💍 1903/441
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 weeks	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St. David's Church, Khyber Pass
Folio	03/123
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. F. Dixon, Presbyterian

9 February 1903

Charles Clough Robertson
Mary Jane Bettis

Charles Clough Robertson
Mary Jane Bettis
💍 1903/425

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor

30
26

Auckland
Auckland

4 days
2 weeks

All Saints Church, Ponsonby

03/67

9 February 1903

Rev. W. Calder, Church of England

No	82
Date of Notice	9 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Clough Robertson	Mary Jane Bettis
	💍 1903/425
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Ponsonby
Folio	03/67
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Calder, Church of England

9 February 1903

William Le Clair Murphy
Emily Amelia Care

William Le Clair Murphy
Emily Amelia Cane
💍 1903/590

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill Hand

21
20

Auckland
Auckland

21 years
20 years

St. Stephen's Church, Auckland

03/79

9 February 1903

Rev. W. E. Rush, Church of England

No	83
Date of Notice	9 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Le Clair Murphy	Emily Amelia Care
BDM Match (97%)	William Le Clair Murphy	Emily Amelia Cane
	💍 1903/590
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill Hand
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	21 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Stephen's Church, Auckland
Folio	03/79
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Rush, Church of England

9 February 1903

William Alfred Jenkinson
Elizabeth Tryphena Beuth

William Alfred Jenkinson
Elizabeth Tryphena Benth
💍 1903/531

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

34
25

Auckland
Auckland

23 years
25 years

House of Father of Bride, Great North Road

03/168

9 February 1903

Rev. J. H. Barrett, Congregational Independent

No	84
Date of Notice	9 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alfred Jenkinson	Elizabeth Tryphena Beuth
BDM Match (98%)	William Alfred Jenkinson	Elizabeth Tryphena Benth
	💍 1903/531
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	34	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	23 years	25 years
Marriage Place	House of Father of Bride, Great North Road
Folio	03/168
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Barrett, Congregational Independent

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).