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 1081

District of Dargaville Quarter ending 31 March 1903 Registrar J Hay

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

7 January 1903

Charles Henry Sheldon
Bella McCullough

Charles Henry Sheldon
Bella McCullough
💍 1903/644

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

29
26

Aranga
Aranga

2 weeks
3 weeks

Alexander McCulloughs Private Residence Aranga

03/194

7 January 1903

Rev R Y Cox, Kaihu, Wesleyan

No	1
Date of Notice	7 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Sheldon	Bella McCullough
	💍 1903/644
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Aranga	Aranga
Length of Residence	2 weeks	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Alexander McCulloughs Private Residence Aranga
Folio	03/194
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev R Y Cox, Kaihu, Wesleyan

19 January 1903

James Alexander McLean
Edith Beatrice Day

James Alexander McLean
Edie Beatrice Day
💍 1903/640

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Domestic duties

27
25

Dargaville
Dargaville

23 Years
9 Years

English Church Dargaville

03/190

19 January 1903

Rev A J Beck, Dargaville, Church of England

No	2
Date of Notice	19 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Alexander McLean	Edith Beatrice Day
BDM Match (94%)	James Alexander McLean	Edie Beatrice Day
	💍 1903/640
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Domestic duties
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Dargaville	Dargaville
Length of Residence	23 Years	9 Years
Marriage Place	English Church Dargaville
Folio	03/190
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev A J Beck, Dargaville, Church of England

23 February 1903

Frederick William Bell
Editha Florance Wiggins

Frederick William Bell
Editha Florence Wiggins
💍 1903/642

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill Hand
Domestic duties

30
22

Aoroa
Dargaville

3 Years
18 Years

Catholic Church Mangawhare

03/192

23 February 1903

Rev W Westende, Dargaville, Catholic Church

No	3
Date of Notice	23 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Bell	Editha Florance Wiggins
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick William Bell	Editha Florence Wiggins
	💍 1903/642
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill Hand	Domestic duties
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Aoroa	Dargaville
Length of Residence	3 Years	18 Years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church Mangawhare
Folio	03/192
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev W Westende, Dargaville, Catholic Church

3 March 1903

William Henry Dyer
Ellen Paice

William Henry Dyer
Ellen Paice
💍 1903/641

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Domestic duties

23
18

Kaihu
Dargaville

1 Year
18 Years

Church of England Dargaville

03/191

William Paice, Father of Ellen Paice

3 March 1903

Rev A J Beck, Dargaville, Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	3 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Dyer	Ellen Paice
	💍 1903/641
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Domestic duties
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Kaihu	Dargaville
Length of Residence	1 Year	18 Years
Marriage Place	Church of England Dargaville
Folio	03/191
Consent	William Paice, Father of Ellen Paice
Date of Certificate	3 March 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev A J Beck, Dargaville, Church of England

16 March 1903

Adam Barclay
Harriett Ann McCabe

Adam Barclay
Harriett Ann McCabe
💍 1903/643

Widower
Widow

Postmaster
Domestic duties

65
44

Mangawhare
Mangawhare

9 Years
18 Years

Wesleyan Parsonage Mangawhare

03/193

16 March 1903

Rev R Taylor, Mangawhare, Wesleyan Minister

No	5
Date of Notice	16 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Adam Barclay	Harriett Ann McCabe
	💍 1903/643
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Postmaster	Domestic duties
Age	65	44
Dwelling Place	Mangawhare	Mangawhare
Length of Residence	9 Years	18 Years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Parsonage Mangawhare
Folio	03/193
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev R Taylor, Mangawhare, Wesleyan Minister

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).