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 544

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 March 1903 Registrar John Burdin

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

1 January 1903

Edward Bissell Junr.
Jessie Miller Nicoll

Edward Bissell
Jessie Miller Nicoll
💍 1903/1385

Bachelor
Spinster

School Teacher
Domestic Duties

27
27

Meanee
Meanee

12 Months
10 years

Presbyterian Church, Meanee

03/388

3 January 1903

Rev. C. Connor

No	1
Date of Notice	1 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Bissell Junr.	Jessie Miller Nicoll
BDM Match (85%)	Edward Bissell	Jessie Miller Nicoll
	💍 1903/1385
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School Teacher	Domestic Duties
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Meanee	Meanee
Length of Residence	12 Months	10 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Meanee
Folio	03/388
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Connor

1 January 1903

George Johnstone
Mary Ann Coxon

George Johnstone
Mary Ann Coxon
💍 1903/1392

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Dressmaker

28
24

Napier
Napier

5 Days
4 Days

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Napier

03/395

1 January 1903

Rev. W. H. Goggan

No	2
Date of Notice	1 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Johnstone	Mary Ann Coxon
	💍 1903/1392
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 Days	4 Days
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Napier
Folio	03/395
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Goggan

6 January 1903

Ralph Hew Spraggon
Angelina Maud Mary Carnell

Ralph Dew Spraggon
Augustina Maud Mary Carnell
💍 1903/1403

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller
Domestic

30
28

Napier
Napier

3 Days
28 Years

The Cathedral at Napier

03/382

6 January 1903

Very Rev. Dean Hovell

No	3
Date of Notice	6 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ralph Hew Spraggon	Angelina Maud Mary Carnell
BDM Match (90%)	Ralph Dew Spraggon	Augustina Maud Mary Carnell
	💍 1903/1403
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller	Domestic
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 Days	28 Years
Marriage Place	The Cathedral at Napier
Folio	03/382
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean Hovell

16 January 1903

Charles Joseph Nathan
Emily Maria Theresa Sutton

Charles Joseph Nathan
Emily Maria Fracia Sutton
💍 1903/1373

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic Duties

33
23

Napier
Napier

1 Month
2 Months

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Napier

03/375

16 January 1903

John Burdin, Registrar

No	4
Date of Notice	16 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Joseph Nathan	Emily Maria Theresa Sutton
BDM Match (88%)	Charles Joseph Nathan	Emily Maria Fracia Sutton
	💍 1903/1373
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic Duties
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	1 Month	2 Months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Napier
Folio	03/375
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1903
Officiating Minister	John Burdin, Registrar

19 January 1903

Joseph John Martin
Margaret O'Rourke

Joseph John Martin
Margret O'Rourke
💍 1903/1391

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotelkeeper
Domestic Duties

32
22

Napier
Napier

4 Days
22 Years

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Meanee

03/394

19 January 1903

Very Rev. Dean Binsfeld

No	5
Date of Notice	19 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph John Martin	Margaret O'Rourke
BDM Match (97%)	Joseph John Martin	Margret O'Rourke
	💍 1903/1391
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotelkeeper	Domestic Duties
Age	32	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 Days	22 Years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Meanee
Folio	03/394
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean Binsfeld

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).