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 530

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 September 1903 Registrar John Burden

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 July 1903

Tuiri Te Rangi
Victoria Greening

Tuiri Kirinini
Victoria Greening
💍 1903/6392

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

17
17

Waiohiki
Waiohiki

17 years
4 months

at the Church of England, Waiohiki, Hawkes Bay

03/6219

Teroura Tareha, Father; Jane Greening, Mother

6 July 1903

Rev. Nirai Runga

No	63
Date of Notice	6 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Tuiri Te Rangi	Victoria Greening
BDM Match (75%)	Tuiri Kirinini	Victoria Greening
	💍 1903/6392
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	17	17
Dwelling Place	Waiohiki	Waiohiki
Length of Residence	17 years	4 months
Marriage Place	at the Church of England, Waiohiki, Hawkes Bay
Folio	03/6219
Consent	Teroura Tareha, Father; Jane Greening, Mother
Date of Certificate	6 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. Nirai Runga

7 July 1903

Henry Maitland Marler
Jessica Mary Brinsden

Henry Maitland Marler
Jessica Mary Brinsden
💍 1903/3571

Bachelor
Spinster

Traveller
Domestic

27
29

Napier
Napier

5 days
5 days

At St. Augustine's Church, Bower Street, Napier

03/3662

7 July 1903

Rev. C. L. Tuke

No	64
Date of Notice	7 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Maitland Marler	Jessica Mary Brinsden
	💍 1903/3571
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Traveller	Domestic
Age	27	29
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 days	5 days
Marriage Place	At St. Augustine's Church, Bower Street, Napier
Folio	03/3662
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. L. Tuke

7 July 1903

Walter John Harding
Catherine Frances Taylor maiden name
formerly Felstead

Walter John Harding
Catherine Frances Taylor
💍 1903/3572

Bachelor
Widow

Cook
Domestic

42
52

Napier
Napier

11 years
11 years

at St. Augustine's Church, Bower Street, Napier

03/3663

7 July 1903

Rev. C. L. Tuke

No	65
Date of Notice	7 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter John Harding	Catherine Frances Taylor maiden name formerly Felstead
BDM Match (83%)	Walter John Harding	Catherine Frances Taylor
	💍 1903/3572
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Cook	Domestic
Age	42	52
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	11 years	11 years
Marriage Place	at St. Augustine's Church, Bower Street, Napier
Folio	03/3663
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. L. Tuke

16 July 1903

Samuel Montecino
Agnes Turner (maiden name Robertson)

Samuel Montecino
Agnes Turner
💍 1903/3558

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer
Domestic

29
34

Port Ahuriri
Port Ahuriri

7 years
2 years

In the Residence of the Rev. H. W. J. Miller, Hastings Street, Napier

03/3672

16 July 1903

Rev. H. W. J. Miller

No	66
Date of Notice	16 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Montecino	Agnes Turner (maiden name Robertson)
BDM Match (67%)	Samuel Montecino	Agnes Turner
	💍 1903/3558
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	29	34
Dwelling Place	Port Ahuriri	Port Ahuriri
Length of Residence	7 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the Residence of the Rev. H. W. J. Miller, Hastings Street, Napier
Folio	03/3672
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. J. Miller

20 July 1903

George Joines
Mary Gertrude Kerr

George Joines
Mary Gertrude Kerr
💍 1903/3561

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic

32
30

Napier
Napier

5 days
10 days

St. Patrick's Church, Munro Street, Napier

03/3675

20 July 1903

Rev. W. D. Goggan

No	67
Date of Notice	20 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Joines	Mary Gertrude Kerr
	💍 1903/3561
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic
Age	32	30
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 days	10 days
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Munro Street, Napier
Folio	03/3675
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. D. Goggan

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).