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 126

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1902 Registrar D. Meansfee

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 January 1902

James Barber
Elsie Maude Ballinger

James Barber
Elsie Maude Ballinger
💍 1903/860

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper

24
19

Petone
Wellington

24 years
2 years

St Peters Church, Willis Street, Wellington

03/659

William Henry Ballinger, Father

6 January 1902

Rev W. C. Waters

No	7
Date of Notice	6 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Barber	Elsie Maude Ballinger
	💍 1903/860
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Petone	Wellington
Length of Residence	24 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St Peters Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	03/659
Consent	William Henry Ballinger, Father
Date of Certificate	6 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev W. C. Waters

6 January 1902

Edward Jackson Bitson
Marian Louise Jolley

Edward Jackson Retson
Marian Louise Jolley
💍 1903/1590

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocers Assistant

22
25

Wellington
Wellington

22 years

Residence of Mrs J. Page, 48 Hanson St, Wellington

03/699

6 January 1902

Rev Wm. Shiner

No	8
Date of Notice	6 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Jackson Bitson	Marian Louise Jolley
BDM Match (95%)	Edward Jackson Retson	Marian Louise Jolley
	💍 1903/1590
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocers Assistant
Age	22	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs J. Page, 48 Hanson St, Wellington
Folio	03/699
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev Wm. Shiner

7 January 1902

John James Harris
Catherine Eaton

John James Harris
Catherine Eaton
💍 1903/1574

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph Clerk

23
35

Wellington
Wellington

23 years
5 years

Residence of Mr. Jenknison, Clyde Quay, Wellington

03/734

7 January 1902

Major Spargo

No	9
Date of Notice	7 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John James Harris	Catherine Eaton
	💍 1903/1574
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph Clerk
Age	23	35
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	23 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Jenknison, Clyde Quay, Wellington
Folio	03/734
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Major Spargo

8 January 1902

Albert Jimaro Ramsay
Emma Gertrude Frethey

Albert Timaru Ramsay
Emma Gertrude Frethey
💍 1903/1569

Bachelor
Spinster

Photographer

30
27

Wellington
Wellington

10 days
3 weeks

Residence of Miss Phoebe Frethey, 14 Mulgrave Street, Wellington

03/733

8 January 1902

Rev W. J. Elliott

No	10
Date of Notice	8 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Jimaro Ramsay	Emma Gertrude Frethey
BDM Match (95%)	Albert Timaru Ramsay	Emma Gertrude Frethey
	💍 1903/1569
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Photographer
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Miss Phoebe Frethey, 14 Mulgrave Street, Wellington
Folio	03/733
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev W. J. Elliott

8 January 1902

David Milligan
Augusta Massey May Durrant

David Milligan
Augusta Massey May Durrant
💍 1903/851

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant Tailor

33
23

Wellington
Wellington

11 years
23 years

Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church, Wellington

03/674

8 January 1902

Rev J. K. Elliott

No	11
Date of Notice	8 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Milligan	Augusta Massey May Durrant
	💍 1903/851
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant Tailor
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	11 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church, Wellington
Folio	03/674
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev J. K. Elliott

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).