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 105

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1903 Registrar FREDERICK WILLIAM MANSFIELD

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

219

9 April 1903

Louis Sjoberg
Elizabeth O'Meara

Louis Sjoberg
Elizabeth Omeara
💍 1903/1216

Bachelor
Widow

Painter

48
34

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
11 years

St. Mary of the Angels, Boulcott St., Wellington

03/2203

9 April 1903

Rev. J. O'Shea

No	219
Date of Notice	9 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Louis Sjoberg	Elizabeth O'Meara
BDM Match (94%)	Louis Sjoberg	Elizabeth Omeara
	💍 1903/1216
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Painter
Age	48	34
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	11 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary of the Angels, Boulcott St., Wellington
Folio	03/2203
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. O'Shea

220

9 April 1903

Tedbar Stanley Harper
Agnes Marshall Russell

Tedbar Stanley Harper
Agnes Marshall Russell
💍 1903/6730

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

25
24

Christchurch
Petone

1 Month
4 Months

St. David's Church, Petone

03/2546

9 April 1903

Rev. A. Thomson

No	220
Date of Notice	9 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Tedbar Stanley Harper	Agnes Marshall Russell
	💍 1903/6730
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Petone
Length of Residence	1 Month	4 Months
Marriage Place	St. David's Church, Petone
Folio	03/2546
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Thomson

221

9 April 1903

George Thomas Robinson
Lillian Maude Jessup

George Thomas Robinson
Lillian Maude Jessup
💍 1903/112

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

31
22

Wellington
Wellington

10 years
22 years

St. Mark's Church, Sussex Square, Wellington

03/2190

9 April 1903

Rev. R. Coffey

No	221
Date of Notice	9 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Thomas Robinson	Lillian Maude Jessup
	💍 1903/112
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church, Sussex Square, Wellington
Folio	03/2190
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Coffey

222

11 April 1903

Neil Mackenzie Forbes
Margaret Stuart

Neil Mackenzie Forbes
Margaret Stuart
💍 1903/136

Bachelor
Widow

Hotel Proprietor

30
34

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

Scots Church, Abel Smith Street, Wellington

03/2260

11 April 1903

Rev. Wm. Thomson

No	222
Date of Notice	11 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Neil Mackenzie Forbes	Margaret Stuart
	💍 1903/136
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Hotel Proprietor
Age	30	34
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Scots Church, Abel Smith Street, Wellington
Folio	03/2260
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Thomson

223

13 April 1903

Daniel Kinney
Julia Burke

Daniel Kinney
Julia Burke
💍 1903/1223

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer
School Teacher

36
32

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
4 Months

St. Joseph's Church, Boulcott Street, Wellington

03/2264

13 April 1903

Rev. J. O'Shea

No	223
Date of Notice	13 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Kinney	Julia Burke
	💍 1903/1223
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer	School Teacher
Age	36	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	4 Months
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Church, Boulcott Street, Wellington
Folio	03/2264
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. O'Shea

224

14 April 1903

Richard John Long
Ada Eva Barrow

Richard John Long
Ada Eva Barron
💍 1903/111

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

28
21

Wellington
Wellington

1 week
13 years

St. Mark's Church, Sussex Square, Wellington

03/2189

14 April 1903

Rev. R. Coffey

No	224
Date of Notice	14 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard John Long	Ada Eva Barrow
BDM Match (96%)	Richard John Long	Ada Eva Barron
	💍 1903/111
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 week	13 years
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church, Sussex Square, Wellington
Folio	03/2189
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Coffey

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).