Intentions to Marry, 1907 Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840433, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1907 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1907a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1907b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1907c).

Page 029

District of AUCKLAND Quarter ending 31 March 1907 Registrar Edmund Humphrey Lyons

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

121

11 February 1907

Mathew Carroll
Dorothy Radcliffe Ratchffe

Matthew Carroll
Dorothy Ratcliffe
💍 1907/4618

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

29
29

Auckland
Auckland

4 days
6 months

St Patricks Cathedral Auckland

07/400H

11 February 1907

Rev. A. Farthing, Roman Catholic

No	121
Date of Notice	11 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Mathew Carroll	Dorothy Radcliffe Ratchffe
BDM Match (77%)	Matthew Carroll	Dorothy Ratcliffe
	💍 1907/4618
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 days	6 months
Marriage Place	St Patricks Cathedral Auckland
Folio	07/400H
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Farthing, Roman Catholic

122

11 February 1907

Robert Herow Cowan
Mabel Etheldreda Coldicutt

Robert Heron Cowan
Mabel Etheldreda Coldicutt
💍 1907/152

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

34
29

Auckland
Auckland

20 years
29 years

St Barnabas Church

07/164

11 February 1907

Rev. E. J. McFarland, Church of England

No	122
Date of Notice	11 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Herow Cowan	Mabel Etheldreda Coldicutt
BDM Match (97%)	Robert Heron Cowan	Mabel Etheldreda Coldicutt
	💍 1907/152
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	34	29
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	20 years	29 years
Marriage Place	St Barnabas Church
Folio	07/164
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. J. McFarland, Church of England

123

11 February 1907

Albert Edward Lovell
Margaret Theresa Grace

Albert Edward Lovell
Margaret Theresa Grace
💍 1907/4853

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee

25
25

Auckland
Auckland

2 years
25 years

Roman Catholic Church Parnell

07/4294

11 February 1907

Rev. SJ P. Kehoe, Roman Catholic

No	123
Date of Notice	11 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward Lovell	Margaret Theresa Grace
	💍 1907/4853
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Parnell
Folio	07/4294
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. SJ P. Kehoe, Roman Catholic

124

11 February 1907

George Gore Gillon
Kathleen Roveria Witchell

George Gore Gillon
Kathleen Noveria Witchell
💍 1907/103

Widower
Spinster

Surgeon

48
28

Auckland
Auckland

5 years
4 years

Knox Church

07/90

11 February 1907

Rev. J. B. Russell, Presbyterian

No	124
Date of Notice	11 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Gore Gillon	Kathleen Roveria Witchell
BDM Match (98%)	George Gore Gillon	Kathleen Noveria Witchell
	💍 1907/103
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Surgeon
Age	48	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Knox Church
Folio	07/90
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. B. Russell, Presbyterian

125

11 February 1907

Henry Francis Carter
Violet Maren Nicholson

Harry Francis Carter
Violet Maren Nicholson
💍 1907/117

Bachelor
Spinster

Battery Hand

26
20

Auckland
Auckland

4 days
20 years

House of Mr. C. J. Collins, Spring Street, Ponsonby

07/79

Annie Katherine Nicholson, Mother

11 February 1907

Rev. Geo. Clements, Primitive Methodist

No	125
Date of Notice	11 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Francis Carter	Violet Maren Nicholson
BDM Match (95%)	Harry Francis Carter	Violet Maren Nicholson
	💍 1907/117
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Battery Hand
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 days	20 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. C. J. Collins, Spring Street, Ponsonby
Folio	07/79
Consent	Annie Katherine Nicholson, Mother
Date of Certificate	11 February 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Clements, Primitive Methodist

126

11 February 1907

Samuel John Hedglands, Commonly Known as Parker
Martha Wallace Stewart

Samuel John Parker
Martha Wallace Stewart
💍 1907/68

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

25
28

Auckland
Auckland

4 days
3 years

House of the Father of Bride, Vermont Street, Ponsonby

07/5

11 February 1907

Rev. A. M. Caldwell, Presbyterian

No	126
Date of Notice	11 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel John Hedglands, Commonly Known as Parker	Martha Wallace Stewart
BDM Match (69%)	Samuel John Parker	Martha Wallace Stewart
	💍 1907/68
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	25	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 days	3 years
Marriage Place	House of the Father of Bride, Vermont Street, Ponsonby
Folio	07/5
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Caldwell, Presbyterian

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 1908. 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).