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 084

District of AUCKLAND Quarter ending 30 June 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

436

15 May 1907

William Ashby Fenton
Lavinia Ann Rhodes

William Ashby Fenton
Lavinia Ann Rhodes
💍 1907/2052

Widower
Divorcee

Farmer

43
42

Auckland
Auckland

5 days
1 month

Registrar's Office

07/2177

15 May 1907

R. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	436
Date of Notice	15 May 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Ashby Fenton	Lavinia Ann Rhodes
	💍 1907/2052
Condition	Widower	Divorcee
Profession	Farmer
Age	43	42
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 days	1 month
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	07/2177
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 May 1907
Officiating Minister	R. H. Lyons, Registrar

437

16 May 1907

Alfred John Ryder Vetrall
Elizabeth Frances Arscott

Alfred John Hyan Verrall
Elizabeth Frances Arscott
💍 1907/2117

Bachelor
Spinster

Coachsmith

34
26

Auckland
Auckland

11 years
1 week

Methodist Church, Grafton Road

07/2211

16 May 1907

Rev. G. Spence, Methodist

No	437
Date of Notice	16 May 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred John Ryder Vetrall	Elizabeth Frances Arscott
BDM Match (90%)	Alfred John Hyan Verrall	Elizabeth Frances Arscott
	💍 1907/2117
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coachsmith
Age	34	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	11 years	1 week
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Grafton Road
Folio	07/2211
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 May 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Spence, Methodist

438

14 May 1907

George Henry Rowland
Amelia Hunt

George Henry Rowland
Amelia Hunt
💍 1907/2220

Widower
Spinster

Machinist

44
22

Auckland
Auckland

22 years
10

House of Rev. R. L. Walker, Wellington Street

07/2323

14 May 1907

Rev. R. L. Walker, Presbyterian

No	438
Date of Notice	14 May 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Rowland	Amelia Hunt
	💍 1907/2220
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Machinist
Age	44	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	22 years	10
Marriage Place	House of Rev. R. L. Walker, Wellington Street
Folio	07/2323
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 May 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. L. Walker, Presbyterian

439

14 May 1907

Frank Joseph Matthews
Mary Emelia Downie

Frank Joseph Matthews
Mary Emelia Downie
💍 1907/3008

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
23

Auckland
Auckland

3 weeks
3 days

St. Albans Church, Mount Roskill

07/3039

14 May 1907

Rev. H. B. Wingfield, Church of England

No	439
Date of Notice	14 May 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Joseph Matthews	Mary Emelia Downie
	💍 1907/3008
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 weeks	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Albans Church, Mount Roskill
Folio	07/3039
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 May 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. B. Wingfield, Church of England

440

14 May 1907

James Green
Charlotte Mary Morgan

James Green
Charlotte Mary Morgan
💍 1907/4567

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

28
23

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
13

St. Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland

07/3902

14 May 1907

Rev. W. J. Murphy, Roman Catholic

No	440
Date of Notice	14 May 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Green	Charlotte Mary Morgan
	💍 1907/4567
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	13
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland
Folio	07/3902
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 May 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Murphy, Roman Catholic

441

20 May 1907

Clyde Montgomerie Ballantyne
Flora Macdonald Smith

Clyde Montgomerie Ballantyne
Flora Macdonald Smith
💍 1907/2100

Bachelor
Spinster

Estate Agent

40
34

Auckland
Auckland

22 years
8 months

All Saints Church, Ponsonby

07/2217

20 May 1907

Ven. Arch. W. Calder, Church of England

No	441
Date of Notice	20 May 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clyde Montgomerie Ballantyne	Flora Macdonald Smith
	💍 1907/2100
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Estate Agent
Age	40	34
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	22 years	8 months
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Ponsonby
Folio	07/2217
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 May 1907
Officiating Minister	Ven. Arch. W. Calder, Church of England

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).