Intentions to Marry, 1906 Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840430, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1906 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1906a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1906b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1906c).

Page 260

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 31 December 1906 Registrar Henry Rowart Neill

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

1728

12 October 1906

George Ancell Marlow
[illegible]

Bachelor
[illegible]

Miner
[illegible]

22
[illegible]

Gisborne, Poverty Bay
[illegible]

5 days
[illegible]

At the private residence of the Bride's parents, Carnarvon Street, Gisborne

06/5793

Anne Courtenay of Gisborne Widow, mother of bride

12 October 1906

Rev. Thomas Have, Roman Catholic

No	1728
Date of Notice	12 October 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Ancell Marlow	[illegible]
Condition	Bachelor	[illegible]
Profession	Miner	[illegible]
Age	22	[illegible]
Dwelling Place	Gisborne, Poverty Bay	[illegible]
Length of Residence	5 days	[illegible]
Marriage Place	At the private residence of the Bride's parents, Carnarvon Street, Gisborne
Folio	06/5793
Consent	Anne Courtenay of Gisborne Widow, mother of bride
Date of Certificate	12 October 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Have, Roman Catholic

1729

13 October 1906

Stephen Hewitt Todd
Mattheen Courtenay

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Domestic Servant

23
18

Gisborne
Gisborne

4 days
All life

Presbyterian Church, Matawhero

06/5783

13 October 1906

Rev. Robert Gardner, Presbyterian

No	1729
Date of Notice	13 October 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stephen Hewitt Todd	Mattheen Courtenay
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Domestic Servant
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	4 days	All life
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Matawhero
Folio	06/5783
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert Gardner, Presbyterian

1730

13 October 1906

Patrick Horton
Rebecca Snow Atkinson

Patrick Norton
Rebecca Snow Atkinson
💍 1906/5907

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
[illegible]

31
29

Gisborne
Gisborne

18 months
1 month

At the Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne

06/5794

13 October 1906

Rev. Thomas Have, Roman Catholic

No	1730
Date of Notice	13 October 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Horton	Rebecca Snow Atkinson
BDM Match (96%)	Patrick Norton	Rebecca Snow Atkinson
	💍 1906/5907
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	[illegible]
Age	31	29
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	18 months	1 month
Marriage Place	At the Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne
Folio	06/5794
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Have, Roman Catholic

1731

14 October 1906

Francis Charles Stoick
Agnes Ellen Moore

Francis Charles Hick
Agnes Ellen Moore
💍 1906/5908

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer
[illegible]

24
28

Gisborne, Poverty Bay
Gisborne, Poverty Bay

20 years
20 years

At private residence of J. Brosnahan, Kaiti

06/5795

14 October 1906

Rev. Thomas Have, Roman Catholic

No	1731
Date of Notice	14 October 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Charles Stoick	Agnes Ellen Moore
BDM Match (93%)	Francis Charles Hick	Agnes Ellen Moore
	💍 1906/5908
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer	[illegible]
Age	24	28
Dwelling Place	Gisborne, Poverty Bay	Gisborne, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	At private residence of J. Brosnahan, Kaiti
Folio	06/5795
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Have, Roman Catholic

1732

17 October 1906

Arthur Onion (generally known as Arthur Owen)
Sarah Malcolm

Bachelor
Spinster

Billiard Saloon Keeper
Barmaid

27
26

Gisborne, Poverty Bay
Gisborne

12 years
2 1/2 years

At the Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne

06/5796

17 October 1906

Rev. Thomas Have, Roman Catholic

No	1732
Date of Notice	17 October 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Onion (generally known as Arthur Owen)	Sarah Malcolm
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Billiard Saloon Keeper	Barmaid
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Gisborne, Poverty Bay	Gisborne
Length of Residence	12 years	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	At the Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne
Folio	06/5796
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 October 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Have, Roman Catholic

1733

26 October 1906

William Joseph Roland
Agnes Mary Dowie

William Joseph Roland
Agnes Mary Downie
💍 1906/5889

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Engineer
Domestic Laundress

24
22

Gisborne
Gisborne

3 weeks
3 months

Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne

06/5775

26 October 1906

Rev. H. E. Thomas, Church of England

No	1733
Date of Notice	26 October 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Joseph Roland	Agnes Mary Dowie
BDM Match (97%)	William Joseph Roland	Agnes Mary Downie
	💍 1906/5889
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Engineer	Domestic Laundress
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	3 weeks	3 months
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne
Folio	06/5775
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 October 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. E. Thomas, Church of England

1734

26 October 1906

Thomas Alfred Howman
Clara Baker

Thomas Alfred Hunter
Clara Baker
💍 1906/5910

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler
Shop Assistant

20
30

Gisborne
Gisborne

3 months
5 days

At the private residence of Rev. Cornelius Griffin, Palmerston Road, Gisborne

06/5797

Thomas Gilman, father of groom

26 October 1906

Rev. Cornelius Griffin, Wesleyan

No	1734
Date of Notice	26 October 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Alfred Howman	Clara Baker
BDM Match (88%)	Thomas Alfred Hunter	Clara Baker
	💍 1906/5910
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler	Shop Assistant
Age	20	30
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	3 months	5 days
Marriage Place	At the private residence of Rev. Cornelius Griffin, Palmerston Road, Gisborne
Folio	06/5797
Consent	Thomas Gilman, father of groom
Date of Certificate	26 October 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. Cornelius Griffin, Wesleyan

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).