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 274

District of Pahiatua Quarter ending 31 March 1903 Registrar William J. Reade

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

5 January 1903

Harry Turvey
Katherine Beck Waldmann

Harry Turvey
Katherine Beck Waldmann
💍 1903/763

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairyman
House duties

32
23

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

3 days
7 years

Presbyterian Church, Pahiatua

03/503

7 January 1903

Rev. Jas. M. Caw, Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	5 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Turvey	Katherine Beck Waldmann
	💍 1903/763
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairyman	House duties
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	3 days	7 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Pahiatua
Folio	03/503
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jas. M. Caw, Presbyterian

5 January 1903

Christian Jensen
Mary Thomas

Christian Jensen
Mary Thomas
💍 1903/746

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

24
22

Kohinui
Kohinui

15 months
1 year

Residence of John W. Jensen, Kohinui

03/508

5 January 1903

Rev. H. W. B. Marshall, Church of England

No	2
Date of Notice	5 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Christian Jensen	Mary Thomas
	💍 1903/746
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Kohinui	Kohinui
Length of Residence	15 months	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of John W. Jensen, Kohinui
Folio	03/508
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. B. Marshall, Church of England

7 January 1903

Alexander Hamilton
Frances Mabel Swan

Alexander Hamilton
Florence Mabel Swan
💍 1903/764

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

32
21

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

13 days
10 years

Presbyterian Church, Pahiatua

03/504

7 January 1903

Rev. Jas. M. Caw, Presbyterian

No	3
Date of Notice	7 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Hamilton	Frances Mabel Swan
BDM Match (89%)	Alexander Hamilton	Florence Mabel Swan
	💍 1903/764
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	13 days	10 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Pahiatua
Folio	03/504
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jas. M. Caw, Presbyterian

9 January 1903

Samuel Price Girdwood
Barbara Bernice Horrax

Samuel Price Geidwood
Barbara Bernice Horrax
💍 1903/3124

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairyman
House duties

24
21

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

5 days
2 years

Church of England, Eketahuna

03/509

9 January 1903

Rev. H. S. Leach, Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	9 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Price Girdwood	Barbara Bernice Horrax
BDM Match (95%)	Samuel Price Geidwood	Barbara Bernice Horrax
	💍 1903/3124
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairyman	House duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	5 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Eketahuna
Folio	03/509
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. S. Leach, Church of England

19 January 1903

William Chancey Lyons Morris
Susannah Bly

William Chancey Lyons Morris
Susannah Bly
💍 1903/766

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
House duties

26
19

Mangatainoka
Mangatainoka

3 years
14 years

Residence of W. S. Bly, Mangatainoka

03/506

William S. Bly, father of bride

20 January 1903

Rev. Geo. Hounsell, Methodist

No	5
Date of Notice	19 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Chancey Lyons Morris	Susannah Bly
	💍 1903/766
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	House duties
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Mangatainoka	Mangatainoka
Length of Residence	3 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Residence of W. S. Bly, Mangatainoka
Folio	03/506
Consent	William S. Bly, father of bride
Date of Certificate	20 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Hounsell, Methodist

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).