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 1237

District of AUCKLAND Quarter ending 30 June 1903 Registrar Edmund Humphrey Lyons

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

234

9 April 1903

Frederick William Walters
Mary Elizabeth Fitzpatrick

Frederick William Walters
Mary Elizabeth Fitzpatrick
💍 1903/2106

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

41
37

Auckland
Auckland

13 years
6 years

St Patrick's Cathedral

03/1621

9 April 1903

Rev. J. F. Patterson, Roman Catholic

No	234
Date of Notice	9 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Walters	Mary Elizabeth Fitzpatrick
	💍 1903/2106
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	41	37
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	13 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St Patrick's Cathedral
Folio	03/1621
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Patterson, Roman Catholic

235

9 April 1903

Daniel Wairiki
Commonly known as Grace
Eliza Ann Smith

Daniel Grace
Eliza Ann Smith
💍 1903/2133

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

27
26

Auckland
Ponsonby

7 years
26 years

Home of Rev. W. S. Potter, Ponsonby

03/1655

9 April 1903

Rev. W. S. Potter, Primitive Methodist

No	235
Date of Notice	9 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Wairiki Commonly known as Grace	Eliza Ann Smith
BDM Match (79%)	Daniel Grace	Eliza Ann Smith
	💍 1903/2133
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Ponsonby
Length of Residence	7 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Home of Rev. W. S. Potter, Ponsonby
Folio	03/1655
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Potter, Primitive Methodist

236

9 April 1903

Charles Augustus Smith
Elizabeth Mary Josephine South

Charles Augustus Smith
Elizabeth Mary Josephine South
💍 1903/2994

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer

43
48

Auckland
Auckland

43 years
48 years

St Benedict's Church

03/2911

9 April 1903

Rev. S. H. Gillan, Roman Catholic

No	236
Date of Notice	9 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Augustus Smith	Elizabeth Mary Josephine South
	💍 1903/2994
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer
Age	43	48
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	43 years	48 years
Marriage Place	St Benedict's Church
Folio	03/2911
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. H. Gillan, Roman Catholic

237

9 April 1903

Emanuel Sefont
Caroline Elizabeth Skelton

Emanuel Sefont
Caroline Elizabeth Skellon
💍 1903/1970

Widower
Spinster

Diver

43
23

Auckland
Auckland

9 years
23 years

Registrar's Office

03/1506

9 April 1903

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	237
Date of Notice	9 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Emanuel Sefont	Caroline Elizabeth Skelton
BDM Match (98%)	Emanuel Sefont	Caroline Elizabeth Skellon
	💍 1903/1970
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Diver
Age	43	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	9 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	03/1506
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1903
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

238

14 April 1903

Joseph Carr
Jane Agnes Kerr

Joseph Carr
Jane Agnes Kerr
💍 1903/1971

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

26
26

Auckland
Auckland

4 days
5 years

Registrar's Office

03/1507

14 April 1903

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	238
Date of Notice	14 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Carr	Jane Agnes Kerr
	💍 1903/1971
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 days	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	03/1507
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1903
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

239

14 April 1903

William Martin Coates
Ruby Oberlin Brown

William Martin Felton Coates
Ruby Oberlin Brown
💍 1903/2065

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

31
25

Auckland
Mount Eden

6 days
25 years

St Barnabas Church

03/1563

14 April 1903

Rev. S. J. Redland, Church of England

No	239
Date of Notice	14 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Martin Coates	Ruby Oberlin Brown
BDM Match (88%)	William Martin Felton Coates	Ruby Oberlin Brown
	💍 1903/2065
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Mount Eden
Length of Residence	6 days	25 years
Marriage Place	St Barnabas Church
Folio	03/1563
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. J. Redland, Church of England

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).