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 1038

District of HAMILTON Quarter ending 30 September 1903 Registrar William Shanaghan

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

9 July 1903

Thomas Aitken Alexander
Kate Millicent Soppet

Thomas Aitken Alexander
Kate Millicent Soppet
💍 1903/3999

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

36
31

Pukete
Hamilton

33 years
14 years

In the Presbyterian Church at Hamilton

03/3481

9 July 1903

Rev'd Saul Entrican Presbyterian

No	17
Date of Notice	9 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Aitken Alexander	Kate Millicent Soppet
	💍 1903/3999
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	36	31
Dwelling Place	Pukete	Hamilton
Length of Residence	33 years	14 years
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Church at Hamilton
Folio	03/3481
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev'd Saul Entrican Presbyterian

24 August 1903

William John Andrews
Elizabeth Ramsay

William John Andrews
Elizabeth Ramsay
💍 1903/3968

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

34
30

Fencourt
Tauwhare

3 years
8 years

In the house of Mr Andrew Ramsay at Tauwhare

03/3451

24 August 1903

Rev'd John Erwin Presbyterian

No	18
Date of Notice	24 August 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Andrews	Elizabeth Ramsay
	💍 1903/3968
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	34	30
Dwelling Place	Fencourt	Tauwhare
Length of Residence	3 years	8 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr Andrew Ramsay at Tauwhare
Folio	03/3451
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 August 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev'd John Erwin Presbyterian

31 August 1903

Reuben Vowless
Elizabeth Mary Milne

Reuben Vowless
Elizabeth Mary Milne
💍 1903/4000

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic Duties

29
19

Hamilton
Hamilton

Since birth
5 years

In the house of Mr Milne at Hamilton

03/3482

John Milne Father

31 August 1903

Rev'd John Erwin Presbyterian

No	19
Date of Notice	31 August 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reuben Vowless	Elizabeth Mary Milne
	💍 1903/4000
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic Duties
Age	29	19
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	Since birth	5 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr Milne at Hamilton
Folio	03/3482
Consent	John Milne Father
Date of Certificate	31 August 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev'd John Erwin Presbyterian

31 August 1903

Herbert John Park
Elizabeth Mary Eva Bruce

Herbert John Park
Elizabeth Mary Eva Bruce
💍 1903/4001

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

24
24

Whatawhata
Whatawhata

1 week
1 week

In the office of the Registrar at Hamilton

03/3483

31 August 1903

William Shanaghan Registrar

No	20
Date of Notice	31 August 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert John Park	Elizabeth Mary Eva Bruce
	💍 1903/4001
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Whatawhata	Whatawhata
Length of Residence	1 week	1 week
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar at Hamilton
Folio	03/3483
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1903
Officiating Minister	William Shanaghan Registrar

14 September 1903

James Shaw
Maria Elizabeth Richardson

James Shaw
Maria Elizabeth Richardson
💍 1903/3969

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

30
22

Tamahere
Tauwhare

22 years

In the house of Mr W. J. Richardson at Tauwhare

03/3452

17 September 1903

Rev'd John Erwin Presbyterian

No	21
Date of Notice	14 September 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Shaw	Maria Elizabeth Richardson
	💍 1903/3969
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Tamahere	Tauwhare
Length of Residence	22 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr W. J. Richardson at Tauwhare
Folio	03/3452
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 September 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev'd John Erwin Presbyterian

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).