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 1201

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 September 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

438

1 July 1903

John Thomas Reid
Marion Sowden

John Thomas Reid
Marion Sowden
💍 1903/3514

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

26
19

Auckland
Auckland

12 years
19 years

St. Benedict's Church, Auckland

03/3411

William Sowden, father of bride

1 July 1903

Rev. J. P. Gillan, Roman Catholic

No	438
Date of Notice	1 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Reid	Marion Sowden
	💍 1903/3514
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	12 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St. Benedict's Church, Auckland
Folio	03/3411
Consent	William Sowden, father of bride
Date of Certificate	1 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. P. Gillan, Roman Catholic

439

1 July 1903

George James Boggs
Katherine Harvey Latta

George James Boggs
Katherine Harvey Latta
💍 1903/4111

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

27
30

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
30 years

House of father of bride, Jury Lynn

03/3711

1 July 1903

Rev. W. Ready, Methodist

No	439
Date of Notice	1 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George James Boggs	Katherine Harvey Latta
	💍 1903/4111
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	27	30
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	30 years
Marriage Place	House of father of bride, Jury Lynn
Folio	03/3711
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Ready, Methodist

440

1 July 1903

Thomas Russell
Emily Barker Walton

Thomas Russell
Emily Barker Walton
💍 1903/3954

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist

27
24

Auckland
Kihikihi

3 years
24 years

Christ Church, Owairaka

03/3383

1 July 1903

Rev. C. J. Herton, Church of England

No	440
Date of Notice	1 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Russell	Emily Barker Walton
	💍 1903/3954
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Kihikihi
Length of Residence	3 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Christ Church, Owairaka
Folio	03/3383
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. J. Herton, Church of England

441

1 July 1903

Edward George Buller
Annie Page

Edward Yarde Buller
Annie Page
💍 1903/3590

Bachelor
Widow

Miner

41
34

Auckland
Auckland

1 week
3 days

Sacred Heart Church, Ponsonby

03/3708

1 July 1903

Rev. J. Brodie, Roman Catholic

No	441
Date of Notice	1 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward George Buller	Annie Page
BDM Match (90%)	Edward Yarde Buller	Annie Page
	💍 1903/3590
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Miner
Age	41	34
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 week	3 days
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Church, Ponsonby
Folio	03/3708
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Brodie, Roman Catholic

442

2 July 1903

George Henry Stotter
Emma Jane Golding

George Henry Stotter
Emma Jane Golding
💍 1903/3923

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

31
31

Auckland
Auckland

9 years
10 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

03/3374

2 July 1903

E. H. Lyous, Registrar

No	442
Date of Notice	2 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Stotter	Emma Jane Golding
	💍 1903/3923
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	31	31
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	9 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	03/3374
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1903
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyous, Registrar

443

3 July 1903

John David Williams
Annie Dobson

John David Williams
Annie Dobson
💍 1903/4102

Widower
Widow

Storekeeper

52
45

Auckland
Auckland

10 days
4 years

Primitive Methodist Church, Alexander Street

03/3725

3 July 1903

Rev. M. Laycock, Primitive Methodist

No	443
Date of Notice	3 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John David Williams	Annie Dobson
	💍 1903/4102
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	52	45
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 days	4 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Alexander Street
Folio	03/3725
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Laycock, Primitive Methodist

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).