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 1199

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 September 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

450

7 July 1903

David Prophet
Ada Bowden Poulton

David Prophet
Ada Bowden Poulton
💍 1903/4309

Widower
Widow

Carpenter

44
32

Auckland
Auckland

32 years

House of Bride, Mount Eden

03/4046

7 July 1903

Rev. J. J. Thomas, Methodist

No	450
Date of Notice	7 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Prophet	Ada Bowden Poulton
	💍 1903/4309
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Carpenter
Age	44	32
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	32 years
Marriage Place	House of Bride, Mount Eden
Folio	03/4046
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Thomas, Methodist

451

7 July 1903

Michael David Vangelder
Elizabeth Simpson

Michael David Vangelder
Elizabeth Simpson
💍 1903/3924

Bachelor
Spinster

Cook

38
29

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
4 years

Registrar's Office

03/3325

7 July 1903

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	451
Date of Notice	7 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael David Vangelder	Elizabeth Simpson
	💍 1903/3924
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cook
Age	38	29
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	03/3325
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1903
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

452

8 July 1903

Henry Richard Stark
Helen Preston

Henry Richard Stark
Helen Preston
💍 1903/3406

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

26
21

Auckland
Auckland

2 years
2 years

House of Mrs. A. J. McCarroll, Hobson Street

03/3429

8 July 1903

Rev. W. S. Potter, Primitive Methodist

No	452
Date of Notice	8 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Richard Stark	Helen Preston
	💍 1903/3406
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. A. J. McCarroll, Hobson Street
Folio	03/3429
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Potter, Primitive Methodist

453

8 July 1903

George Brunton
Elma Jessie Munn

George Brunton
Elma Jessie Munn
💍 1903/4013

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman

28
21

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
10 years

St. Andrew's Manse, Wynyard Street

03/3546

8 July 1903

Rev. H. A. Gray, Presbyterian

No	453
Date of Notice	8 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Brunton	Elma Jessie Munn
	💍 1903/4013
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Manse, Wynyard Street
Folio	03/3546
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. A. Gray, Presbyterian

454

8 July 1903

Henare Kaihan
Louisa Harell

Henare Kaihau
Louisa Flavell
💍 1903/3408

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler

45
23

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
3 days

Office of W. St. Clair, Curran Street

03/3413

8 July 1903

Rev. W. Gittos, Methodist

No	454
Date of Notice	8 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henare Kaihan	Louisa Harell
BDM Match (85%)	Henare Kaihau	Louisa Flavell
	💍 1903/3408
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	45	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of W. St. Clair, Curran Street
Folio	03/3413
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Gittos, Methodist

455

8 July 1903

Henry Proctor Sharp
Eleanor Esther Whitehead

Henry Proctor Sharp
Elenor Esther Whitehead
💍 1903/3966

Bachelor
Spinster

Salvation Army Officer

33
27

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
2 years

Salvation Army Barracks, Ponsonby Road

03/3449

8 July 1903

Major A. L. Loyford, Salvation Army

No	455
Date of Notice	8 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Proctor Sharp	Eleanor Esther Whitehead
BDM Match (98%)	Henry Proctor Sharp	Elenor Esther Whitehead
	💍 1903/3966
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salvation Army Officer
Age	33	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Barracks, Ponsonby Road
Folio	03/3449
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Major A. L. Loyford, Salvation Army

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).