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 044

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

205

15 March 1907

Frederick William Beckett
Elizabeth Mary Ann Perreal

Frederick William Beckett
Elizabeth Mary Ann Pevreal
💍 1907/79

Bachelor
Spinster

Tea Merchant

22
19

Auckland

4 years
2 years

Congregational Church, Beresford Street

07/65

William Henry Perreal, Father

15 March 1907

Rev. J. Wilkins, Congregational Independent

No	205
Date of Notice	15 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Beckett	Elizabeth Mary Ann Perreal
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick William Beckett	Elizabeth Mary Ann Pevreal
	💍 1907/79
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tea Merchant
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Beresford Street
Folio	07/65
Consent	William Henry Perreal, Father
Date of Certificate	15 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Wilkins, Congregational Independent

206

15 March 1907

Herbert William Hopkins
Alberta Rose Cochrane

Herbert William Hopkins
Alberta Rose Cochrane
💍 1907/113

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

27
24

Auckland

13 years
8 years

Church of England, Devonport

07/99

15 March 1907

Rev. W. Evershed, Church of England

No	206
Date of Notice	15 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert William Hopkins	Alberta Rose Cochrane
	💍 1907/113
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland
Length of Residence	13 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Devonport
Folio	07/99
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Evershed, Church of England

207

16 March 1907

Francis Theodore Bland Stites
Mary Elizabeth Bingeman

Francis Theodore Claud Stiles
Mary Elizabeth Bingeman
💍 1907/8284

Bachelor
Spinster

Barter

27
24

Auckland

4 years
8 years

House of Rev. M. Walker, Wellington Street

07/45

16 March 1907

Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

No	207
Date of Notice	16 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Theodore Bland Stites	Mary Elizabeth Bingeman
BDM Match (95%)	Francis Theodore Claud Stiles	Mary Elizabeth Bingeman
	💍 1907/8284
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barter
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	8 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. M. Walker, Wellington Street
Folio	07/45
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

208

19 March 1907

William Henry Dunstan
Martha Ann Lindsay

William Henry Dunstan
Martha Ann Lindsay
💍 1907/8342

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

34
25

Auckland
Auckland

3 months
3 years

Registrar's Office

07/206

19 March 1907

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	208
Date of Notice	19 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Dunstan	Martha Ann Lindsay
	💍 1907/8342
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	34	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	07/206
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1907
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

209

19 March 1907

William James Downs
Laura Cornish

William James Downs
Laura Cornish
💍 1907/72

Widower
Spinster

Labourer

32
24

Auckland

3 years
2 years

House of Father of Bride, 12 Eden Terrace

07/9

Father of Bride

19 March 1907

Ensign Gunn, Salvation Army

No	209
Date of Notice	19 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Downs	Laura Cornish
	💍 1907/72
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	House of Father of Bride, 12 Eden Terrace
Folio	07/9
Consent	Father of Bride
Date of Certificate	19 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Ensign Gunn, Salvation Army

210

19 March 1907

John Robertson
Rozina Clarkson

John Robertson
Rosina Clarkson
💍 1907/1941

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

35
32

Auckland

20 years
5 years

House of Mrs. J. Bennett, St. Mary's Road

07/2064

19 March 1907

Rev. R. L. Walker, Presbyterian

No	210
Date of Notice	19 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Robertson	Rozina Clarkson
BDM Match (97%)	John Robertson	Rosina Clarkson
	💍 1907/1941
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	35	32
Dwelling Place	Auckland
Length of Residence	20 years	5 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. J. Bennett, St. Mary's Road
Folio	07/2064
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. L. Walker, 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).