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 1275

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1903 Registrar S. H. Lyon

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

10 January 1903

James Henry Maxwell
Jane Terry Lewis

James Henry Maxwell
Jane Gray Lewis
💍 1903/450

Bachelor
Spinster

Inspector of Buildings

35
31

Auckland
Auckland

35 years
15 years

House of Father of Bride, Grey Street

03/110

10 January 1903

Rev. M. F. Macnicol, Presbyterian

No	25
Date of Notice	10 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Henry Maxwell	Jane Terry Lewis
BDM Match (91%)	James Henry Maxwell	Jane Gray Lewis
	💍 1903/450
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Inspector of Buildings
Age	35	31
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	35 years	15 years
Marriage Place	House of Father of Bride, Grey Street
Folio	03/110
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. F. Macnicol, Presbyterian

10 January 1903

Frank Turner
Violet Swart Harris

Frank Turner
Violet Sweet Harvie
💍 1903/3094

Bachelor
Spinster

Copper Smith

28
21

Auckland
Auckland

23 years
10 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

03/114

10 January 1903

S. H. Lyon, Registrar

No	26
Date of Notice	10 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Turner	Violet Swart Harris
BDM Match (89%)	Frank Turner	Violet Sweet Harvie
	💍 1903/3094
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Copper Smith
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	23 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	03/114
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1903
Officiating Minister	S. H. Lyon, Registrar

12 January 1903

John Hamilton Whitehead Dane
Minnie Louisa McCabe

John Hamilton Whitehead-Davies
Minnie Louise McCabe
💍 1903/533

Bachelor
Widow

Mariner

29
26

Auckland
Auckland

[illegible]
3 years

Congregational Church, 3 Beresford Street

03/170

12 January 1903

Rev. J. Wilkins, Congregational

No	27
Date of Notice	12 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hamilton Whitehead Dane	Minnie Louisa McCabe
BDM Match (91%)	John Hamilton Whitehead-Davies	Minnie Louise McCabe
	💍 1903/533
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Mariner
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	[illegible]	3 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, 3 Beresford Street
Folio	03/170
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Wilkins, Congregational

13 January 1903

James Gray Johnstone
Catherine Josephine O'Brien

James Gray Johnstone
Catherine Josephine O'Brien
💍 1903/2992

Widower
Spinster

Farmer

32
32

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
2 years

House of Father of Bride, Ponsonby

03/2901

13 January 1903

Rev. D. O. Egan, Roman Catholic

No	28
Date of Notice	13 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Gray Johnstone	Catherine Josephine O'Brien
	💍 1903/2992
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	32
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	House of Father of Bride, Ponsonby
Folio	03/2901
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. O. Egan, Roman Catholic

13 January 1903

John Paton
Ellen Maud Hickey

John Paton
Ellen Maud Hickey
💍 1903/546

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

22
22

Auckland
Auckland

3 weeks
3 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

03/5

13 January 1903

S. H. Lyon, Registrar

No	29
Date of Notice	13 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Paton	Ellen Maud Hickey
	💍 1903/546
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 weeks	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	03/5
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1903
Officiating Minister	S. H. Lyon, Registrar

14 January 1903

Thomas Henry Phillips
Bridget Angela Ryan

Thomas Henry Phillips
Bridget Angeline Ryan
💍 1903/616

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

22
23

Auckland
Auckland

22 years
23 years

St. Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland

03/141

14 January 1903

Rev. J. L. Patterson, Roman Catholic

No	30
Date of Notice	14 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Phillips	Bridget Angela Ryan
BDM Match (93%)	Thomas Henry Phillips	Bridget Angeline Ryan
	💍 1903/616
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	22 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland
Folio	03/141
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. L. Patterson, Roman Catholic

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).