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 599

District of Stratford Quarter ending 30 June 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

6 June 1903

Henry Nixon Chapman
Margaret Pennington

Henry Nixon Chapman
Margaret Pennington
💍 1903/1172

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27
26

Rahotu
Ngaire

3 years
10 years

The Church at Ngaire

03/1904

6 June 1903

Rev. E. W. McConnell, Church of England

No	26
Date of Notice	6 June 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Nixon Chapman	Margaret Pennington
	💍 1903/1172
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Rahotu	Ngaire
Length of Residence	3 years	10 years
Marriage Place	The Church at Ngaire
Folio	03/1904
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 June 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. W. McConnell, Church of England

10 June 1903

Harold Chapman Taylor
Annie Kathleen Gibson

Harold Chapman Taylor
Annie Kathleen Gibson
💍 1903/1164

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23
21

Stratford
Stratford

23 years
7 years

Church of England at Stratford

03/1896

10 June 1903

Rev. R. B. Watson, Church of England

No	27
Date of Notice	10 June 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Chapman Taylor	Annie Kathleen Gibson
	💍 1903/1164
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	23 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Church of England at Stratford
Folio	03/1896
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. B. Watson, Church of England

17 June 1903

Alfred Edward Watkin
Hilda Elsie Watkin

Alfred Edward Watkin
Hilda Elsie Watkin
💍 1903/2350

Widower
Spinster

Farmer

34
19

Urenui
Huiroa

18 months
7 years

Residence of Daniel Watkin at Huiroa

03/1905

Daniel Watkin, Father

17 June 1903

Rev. John M. Harris, Primitive Methodist

No	28
Date of Notice	17 June 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Edward Watkin	Hilda Elsie Watkin
	💍 1903/2350
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	34	19
Dwelling Place	Urenui	Huiroa
Length of Residence	18 months	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Daniel Watkin at Huiroa
Folio	03/1905
Consent	Daniel Watkin, Father
Date of Certificate	17 June 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. John M. Harris, Primitive Methodist

17 June 1903

Alexander Crawford Binnie
Elizabeth Reid

Alexander Crawford
Elizabeth Reid
💍 1903/2368

John Wilend McRoe
Elizabeth Reid
💍 1903/3972

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
23

Warea
Stratford

10 years
18 years

Residence of A. W. Reid, Bird Road, Stratford

03/1908

17 June 1903

Rev. R. B. Watson, Presbyterian

No	29
Date of Notice	17 June 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Crawford Binnie	Elizabeth Reid
BDM Match (86%)	Alexander Crawford	Elizabeth Reid
	💍 1903/2368
BDM Match (60%)	John Wilend McRoe	Elizabeth Reid
	💍 1903/3972
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Warea	Stratford
Length of Residence	10 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Residence of A. W. Reid, Bird Road, Stratford
Folio	03/1908
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 June 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. B. Watson, Presbyterian

20 June 1903

Malcolm McKay Knox
Annie Lewandowski

Malcolm McKay Knox
Annie Levandowski
💍 1903/1170

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23
21

Midhirst
Midhirst

4 years
21 years

Roman Catholic Church at Stratford

03/1902

20 June 1903

Rev. Father P. Greasy, Roman Catholic

No	30
Date of Notice	20 June 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Malcolm McKay Knox	Annie Lewandowski
BDM Match (97%)	Malcolm McKay Knox	Annie Levandowski
	💍 1903/1170
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Midhirst	Midhirst
Length of Residence	4 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church at Stratford
Folio	03/1902
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 June 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father P. Greasy, Roman Catholic

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).