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 564

District of Dannevirke Quarter ending 31 March 1903 Registrar W. J. Walsh

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

2 January 1903

James Neal
Eva Emily Picard

James Neal
Eva Emily Picard
💍 1903/1372

Bachelor
Spinster

Labour

72
71

Mangatera
Mangatera

6 months
6 months

J.T. Picard's dwelling house Mangatera

03/355

2 January 1903

Rev. G. S. Coop, W.M.

No	1
Date of Notice	2 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Neal	Eva Emily Picard
	💍 1903/1372
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labour
Age	72	71
Dwelling Place	Mangatera	Mangatera
Length of Residence	6 months	6 months
Marriage Place	J.T. Picard's dwelling house Mangatera
Folio	03/355
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. S. Coop, W.M.

6 January 1903

William Alexander Sutherland
Ellen Lawrie

William Alexander Sutherland
Ellen Laurving
💍 1903/1377

Bachelor
Spinster

Rabbitter

25
24

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

3 days
4 years

D. Lawrie's dwelling house

03/356

6 January 1903

Rev. G. Grant, Pres.

No	2
Date of Notice	6 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alexander Sutherland	Ellen Lawrie
BDM Match (86%)	William Alexander Sutherland	Ellen Laurving
	💍 1903/1377
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Rabbitter
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	3 days	4 years
Marriage Place	D. Lawrie's dwelling house
Folio	03/356
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Grant, Pres.

19 January 1903

George Peter Bornken
Attine Marie Ries

George Peter Berntsen
Attine Marie Ries
💍 1903/1379

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

34
24

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

28 years
3 years

Lutheran Church

03/358

19 January 1903

Rev. W. M. Reid, Lutheran

No	3
Date of Notice	19 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Peter Bornken	Attine Marie Ries
BDM Match (93%)	George Peter Berntsen	Attine Marie Ries
	💍 1903/1379
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	28 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Lutheran Church
Folio	03/358
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. M. Reid, Lutheran

23 February 1903

James Patrick Beech
Annie McConnell Gregg

James Patrick Beech
Annie McConnell Gregg
💍 1903/1380

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

39
23

Pahiatua
Dannevirke

17 years
7 months

Roman Catholic Church Pahiatua

03/359

23 February 1903

Rev. J. McKenna, R.C.

No	4
Date of Notice	23 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Patrick Beech	Annie McConnell Gregg
	💍 1903/1380
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	39	23
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	17 years	7 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Pahiatua
Folio	03/359
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. McKenna, R.C.

14 March 1903

Alfred Bert Peterson
Isabella Murray Bethune

Alfred Bert Peterson
Isabella Murray Bethune
💍 1903/1381

Bachelor
Spinster

Jockey
Nurse

31
32

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

14 days
5 days

Church of England

03/360

14 March 1903

Rev. E. Robertshawe, Ang.

No	5
Date of Notice	14 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Bert Peterson	Isabella Murray Bethune
	💍 1903/1381
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jockey	Nurse
Age	31	32
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	14 days	5 days
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	03/360
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Robertshawe, Ang.

14 March 1903

William Barker
Ethel Elizabeth Smith

William Baker
Ethel Elizabeth Smith
💍 1903/1382

Bachelor
Spinster

Labour
Domestic

24
23

Mangatera
Mangatera

1 week
14 days

Church of England

03/361

14 March 1903

Rev. E. Robertshawe, Ang.

No	6
Date of Notice	14 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Barker	Ethel Elizabeth Smith
BDM Match (96%)	William Baker	Ethel Elizabeth Smith
	💍 1903/1382
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labour	Domestic
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Mangatera	Mangatera
Length of Residence	1 week	14 days
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	03/361
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Robertshawe, Ang.

18 March 1903

Brendon Richard
Esther Mitchell

Brendon Gichard
Esther Mitchell
💍 1903/1383

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

25
23

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

2 1/2 years
2 years

Church of England

03/362

18 March 1903

Rev. E. Robertshawe, Ang.

No	7
Date of Notice	18 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Brendon Richard	Esther Mitchell
BDM Match (97%)	Brendon Gichard	Esther Mitchell
	💍 1903/1383
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	03/362
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 March 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Robertshawe, Ang.

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).