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 138

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1903

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

3 February 1903

Jeremiah John Mahony
Susie Marguerite Renouf

Jeremiah John Mahony
Susie Marguerite Renouf
💍 1903/1566

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailors Presser
Tailoress

22
23

Wellington
Wellington

4 months
3 months

Residence of Mr. E. King, 48 Vivian Street, Wellington

03/750

3 February 1903

Mr. N. Turner

No	69
Date of Notice	3 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jeremiah John Mahony	Susie Marguerite Renouf
	💍 1903/1566
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailors Presser	Tailoress
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. E. King, 48 Vivian Street, Wellington
Folio	03/750
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Mr. N. Turner

4 February 1903

John Fitzgerald
Beatrice Gilmore

John Fitzgerald
Beatrice Gilmore
💍 1903/1503

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

37
27

Wellington
Wellington

2 weeks
3 weeks

St. Marks Church, Wellington

03/650

4 February 1903

Rev. S. G. S. Bartlett

No	70
Date of Notice	4 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Fitzgerald	Beatrice Gilmore
	💍 1903/1503
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	37	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 weeks	3 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Marks Church, Wellington
Folio	03/650
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. G. S. Bartlett

4 February 1903

Daniel Fisher Thurston
Annie O'Brien

Daniel Fisher Thurston
Annie O'Brien
💍 1903/814

David Alexander Cookson
Annie O'Brien
💍 1903/5152

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor

25
23

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
4 days

Registrars Office, Wellington

03/626

4 February 1903

The Registrar

No	71
Date of Notice	4 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Fisher Thurston	Annie O'Brien
	💍 1903/814
BDM Match (70%)	David Alexander Cookson	Annie O'Brien
	💍 1903/5152
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Wellington
Folio	03/626
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1903
Officiating Minister	The Registrar

4 February 1903

Ernest Alfred Sisson
Sarah Elizabeth Kemp

Ernest Alfred Sisson
Sarah Elizabeth Kemp
💍 1903/1603

Bachelor
Spinster

Fruit grower
Ladys Help

23
23

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
4 days

Presbyterian Church, Wadestown, Wellington

03/688

4 February 1903

Rev. J. Paterson

No	72
Date of Notice	4 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Alfred Sisson	Sarah Elizabeth Kemp
	💍 1903/1603
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fruit grower	Ladys Help
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Wadestown, Wellington
Folio	03/688
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson

4 February 1903

Peter Malcolm Campbell
Eleanor Margaret Adams

Peter Malcolm Campbell
Eleanor Margaret Adams
💍 1903/1604

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter and Joiner

27
23

Wellington
Wellington

15 years
7 years

St. John's Church, Wellington

03/689

4 February 1903

Rev. J. Paterson

No	73
Date of Notice	4 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Malcolm Campbell	Eleanor Margaret Adams
	💍 1903/1604
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter and Joiner
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	15 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Wellington
Folio	03/689
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson

4 February 1903

Walter John Blundell
Ivy Winifred Barrand

Walter John Blundell
Ivy Winifred Barraud
💍 1903/1665

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

34
21

Wellington
Wellington

34 years
21 years

St. Pauls Pro Cathedral, Wellington

03/1898

4 February 1903

Rev. J. M. Sprott

No	74
Date of Notice	4 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter John Blundell	Ivy Winifred Barrand
BDM Match (98%)	Walter John Blundell	Ivy Winifred Barraud
	💍 1903/1665
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	34	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	34 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Pro Cathedral, Wellington
Folio	03/1898
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Sprott

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).