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 1188

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 September 1903 Registrar 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

510

12 August 1903

Duncan McKenzie
Mary Elizabeth McKenzie

Duncan McKenzie
Mary Elizabeth McKenzie
💍 1903/3505

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

56
48

Auckland
Auckland

3 years
4 years

Shop House of J. H. McKay, Pitt Street

03/3401

12 August 1903

Rev. J. H. Fraser, Presbyterian

No	510
Date of Notice	12 August 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Duncan McKenzie	Mary Elizabeth McKenzie
	💍 1903/3505
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	56	48
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Shop House of J. H. McKay, Pitt Street
Folio	03/3401
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 August 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Fraser, Presbyterian

511

12 August 1903

Ranulph Dacre
Eva Ward Johnson

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

29
22

Auckland
Auckland

29 years
6 months

Presbyterian Church

not solemnized

12 August 1903

Rev. G. H. Beattie, Presbyterian

No	511
Date of Notice	12 August 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ranulph Dacre	Eva Ward Johnson
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	29 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	not solemnized
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 August 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Beattie, Presbyterian

512

13 August 1903

William Henry Siebert
Mary Ann Carpenter

William Henry Siebert
Mary Ann Carpenter
💍 1903/3931

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver

31
36

Auckland
Auckland

31 years
36 years

Registrar's Office

03/3334

13 August 1903

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	512
Date of Notice	13 August 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Siebert	Mary Ann Carpenter
	💍 1903/3931
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver
Age	31	36
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	31 years	36 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	03/3334
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 August 1903
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

513

13 August 1903

James Bruntwood
Winifred Alice Hussey

James Bentson
Winnifred Alice Hussey
💍 1903/4104

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairy-man

37
23

Auckland
Auckland

5 years
1 year

Primitive Methodist Church, Alexandra Street

03/3797

13 August 1903

Rev. H. Laycock, Primitive Methodist

No	513
Date of Notice	13 August 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Bruntwood	Winifred Alice Hussey
BDM Match (81%)	James Bentson	Winnifred Alice Hussey
	💍 1903/4104
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairy-man
Age	37	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Alexandra Street
Folio	03/3797
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 August 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Laycock, Primitive Methodist

514

13 August 1903

Henry Rothery Tayers
Kate Applegren

Henry Rothesy Sayers
Kate Appelgren
💍 1903/4097

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

23
20

Auckland
Auckland

11 years
1 year

Epiphany Church

03/3720

Mother

13 August 1903

Rev. W. E. Lush, Church of England

No	514
Date of Notice	13 August 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Rothery Tayers	Kate Applegren
BDM Match (88%)	Henry Rothesy Sayers	Kate Appelgren
	💍 1903/4097
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	11 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Epiphany Church
Folio	03/3720
Consent	Mother
Date of Certificate	13 August 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Lush, Church of England

515

15 August 1903

Robert Lorrell Chappell
Catherine Reid

Robert Lovell Chappell
Catherine Reid
💍 1903/3520

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

41
30

Auckland
Auckland

30 years
20 years

House of Mother, Union Street

03/3392

15 August 1903

Rev. B. L. Walker, Presbyterian

No	515
Date of Notice	15 August 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Lorrell Chappell	Catherine Reid
BDM Match (96%)	Robert Lovell Chappell	Catherine Reid
	💍 1903/3520
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	41	30
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	30 years	20 years
Marriage Place	House of Mother, Union Street
Folio	03/3392
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 August 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. L. Walker, Presbyterian

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).