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 197

District of Shannon Quarter ending 31 March 1903 Registrar William Charles Nation

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

112

1 January 1903

Herbert John Poad
Kathleen Evans

Herbert John Poad
Kathleen Evans
💍 1903/1805

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

22
22

Levin
Levin

Eight years
Five years

Wesleyan Church, Levin

03/565

1 January 1903

Rev. S. H. D. Peryman

No	112
Date of Notice	1 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert John Poad	Kathleen Evans
	💍 1903/1805
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Levin	Levin
Length of Residence	Eight years	Five years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Levin
Folio	03/565
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. H. D. Peryman

113

5 January 1903

Samuel Hooper
Annie Jessie Hawkins

Samuel Hooper
Annie Jessie Hawkins
💍 1903/1806

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

30
23

Levin
Ohau

Six weeks
Three months

Residence of Rev. S. H. D. Peryman, Levin

03/566

5 January 1903

Rev. S. H. D. Peryman

No	113
Date of Notice	5 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Hooper	Annie Jessie Hawkins
	💍 1903/1806
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Levin	Ohau
Length of Residence	Six weeks	Three months
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. S. H. D. Peryman, Levin
Folio	03/566
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. H. D. Peryman

114

12 January 1903

Alexander McKay
Elizabeth Wintersgill

Alexander McKay
Elizabeth Wintersgill
💍 1903/1809

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic duties

29
25

Levin
Levin

Twelve months
Eighteen months

Residence of Rev. R. McClean, Presbyterian Minister

03/569

12 January 1903

Rev. R. McClean

No	114
Date of Notice	12 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander McKay	Elizabeth Wintersgill
	💍 1903/1809
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic duties
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Levin	Levin
Length of Residence	Twelve months	Eighteen months
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. R. McClean, Presbyterian Minister
Folio	03/569
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. McClean

115

5 February 1903

Thomas Harry Atkins
Esther Ethel Finnis

Thomas Henry Atkins
Esther Ethel Finnis
💍 1903/1807

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic duties

25
20

Levin
Levin

Seven years
Seven years

Residence of Mrs. Finnis, Levin

03/567

Emma Finnis, mother

5 February 1903

Rev. J. Newbold

No	115
Date of Notice	5 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Harry Atkins	Esther Ethel Finnis
BDM Match (95%)	Thomas Henry Atkins	Esther Ethel Finnis
	💍 1903/1807
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic duties
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Levin	Levin
Length of Residence	Seven years	Seven years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Finnis, Levin
Folio	03/567
Consent	Emma Finnis, mother
Date of Certificate	5 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Newbold

116

23 February 1903

Thomas Henry Powles
Frances Emma Cordelia Gower

Thomas Henry Powles
Frances Emma Cordelia Gower
💍 1903/1810

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

28
25

Shannon
Levin

Five years
Ten years

St. Mary's Church, Levin

03/570

23 February 1903

Rev. J. A. McNickle

No	116
Date of Notice	23 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Powles	Frances Emma Cordelia Gower
	💍 1903/1810
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Shannon	Levin
Length of Residence	Five years	Ten years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Levin
Folio	03/570
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. McNickle

117

11 March 1903

Peter Graue Patton
Frances Margaret Taylor

Peter Krause Patton
Frances Margaret Taylor
💍 1903/1808

Bachelor
Spinster

Shop Assistant
Domestic duties

25
28

Levin
Levin

Twelve months
One month

Residence of Mr. McIntosh, Levin

03/568

11 March 1903

Rev. S. H. D. Peryman

No	117
Date of Notice	11 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Graue Patton	Frances Margaret Taylor
BDM Match (95%)	Peter Krause Patton	Frances Margaret Taylor
	💍 1903/1808
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shop Assistant	Domestic duties
Age	25	28
Dwelling Place	Levin	Levin
Length of Residence	Twelve months	One month
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. McIntosh, Levin
Folio	03/568
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. H. D. Peryman

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).