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 363

District of Foxton Quarter ending 31 March 1903 Registrar A. D. Lemett

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

8 January 1903

Arthur A. Small
Mariam May Collins

Arthur Alexander Small
Miriam May Collins
💍 1903/49

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27
22

Napier
Foxton

12 Months
22 years England

Church of England

03/463

8 January 1903

Rev H. F. Wilson

No	12
Date of Notice	8 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur A. Small	Mariam May Collins
BDM Match (79%)	Arthur Alexander Small	Miriam May Collins
	💍 1903/49
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Foxton
Length of Residence	12 Months	22 years England
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	03/463
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev H. F. Wilson

12 January 1903

Arthur A. Clifford
Grace Tasker

Arthur Horace Clifford
Grace Tasker
💍 1903/50

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter

25
27

Foxton
Foxton

8 months
14 days

Church of England

03/464

12 January 1903

Rev H. F. Wilson

No	13
Date of Notice	12 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur A. Clifford	Grace Tasker
BDM Match (86%)	Arthur Horace Clifford	Grace Tasker
	💍 1903/50
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	8 months	14 days
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	03/464
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev H. F. Wilson

17 January 1903

Jas William Coley
Elizabeth White

James William Coley
Elizabeth White
💍 1903/51

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

21
23

Foxton
Foxton

21 years
23 years

Church of England

03/465

17 January 1903

Rev H. F. Wilson

No	14
Date of Notice	17 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jas William Coley	Elizabeth White
BDM Match (95%)	James William Coley	Elizabeth White
	💍 1903/51
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	21 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	03/465
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev H. F. Wilson

9 February 1903

Arthur E. Hall
Emily Christina Nelson

Arthur Edward Hall
Emily Christina Nelson
💍 1903/53

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

28
21

Foxton
Foxton

7 years
21 years

Private House of Rev W. Harris

03/467

9 February 1903

Rev Walter Harris

No	15
Date of Notice	9 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur E. Hall	Emily Christina Nelson
BDM Match (86%)	Arthur Edward Hall	Emily Christina Nelson
	💍 1903/53
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	7 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Private House of Rev W. Harris
Folio	03/467
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev Walter Harris

2 March 1903

Thos Henry Gingell
Alice Margaret Smith

Thomas Henry Gingell
Alice Margaret Smith
💍 1903/54

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

35
21

Bulls
Moutoa

10 months
21 years

Private House of Rev J. Duncan

03/468

2 March 1903

Rev James Duncan

No	16
Date of Notice	2 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thos Henry Gingell	Alice Margaret Smith
BDM Match (95%)	Thomas Henry Gingell	Alice Margaret Smith
	💍 1903/54
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	35	21
Dwelling Place	Bulls	Moutoa
Length of Residence	10 months	21 years
Marriage Place	Private House of Rev J. Duncan
Folio	03/468
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev James Duncan

28 March 1903

Geo Andrew Jonson
Minnie Georgina Young

George Andrew Jonson
Minnie Georgina Young
💍 1903/52

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

23
22

Foxton
Foxton

23 years
22 years

Church of England

03/466

28 March 1903

H. F. Wilson

No	17
Date of Notice	28 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Geo Andrew Jonson	Minnie Georgina Young
BDM Match (93%)	George Andrew Jonson	Minnie Georgina Young
	💍 1903/52
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	23 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	03/466
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1903
Officiating Minister	H. F. Wilson

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).