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 093

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

484

31 May 1907

Antaeus Busiris Balkin
Rachael Henry

Antaeus Busiris Calkin
Rachael Henry
💍 1907/2166

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor

24
22

Auckland
Ponsonby

3 days
3 years

House of Capt. R. Gilbons, Wood St

07/2292

31 May 1907

Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

No	484
Date of Notice	31 May 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Antaeus Busiris Balkin	Rachael Henry
BDM Match (98%)	Antaeus Busiris Calkin	Rachael Henry
	💍 1907/2166
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Ponsonby
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	House of Capt. R. Gilbons, Wood St
Folio	07/2292
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

485

1 June 1907

William Houston King
Cora Violet Penk

William Houston King
Cora Violet Penk
💍 1907/2062

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Fitter

23
21

Auckland
Auckland

2.5 years
3 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

07/2186

1 June 1907

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	485
Date of Notice	1 June 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Houston King	Cora Violet Penk
	💍 1907/2062
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Fitter
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2.5 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	07/2186
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 June 1907
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

486

1 June 1907

Gustav Theodor Kretschmar
Dorothy Susan McCaul

Gustav Theodor Kretschmar
Dorothy Susan McCaul
💍 1907/2085

Bachelor
Spinster

Bartender

49
41

Auckland
Auckland

35 years
41 years

House of Sister of Bride, Wynyard St.

07/2210

1 June 1907

Rev. R. Sommerville, Presbyterian

No	486
Date of Notice	1 June 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gustav Theodor Kretschmar	Dorothy Susan McCaul
	💍 1907/2085
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bartender
Age	49	41
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	35 years	41 years
Marriage Place	House of Sister of Bride, Wynyard St.
Folio	07/2210
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 June 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Sommerville, Presbyterian

487

1 June 1907

Alfred Finlay
Ellen Johnson

Alfred Finlay
Ellen Johnstone
💍 1907/2174

Bachelor
Divorcee

Baker

29
23

Auckland
Ponsonby

29 years
18 years

House of Bride, Ponsonby

07/2293

1 June 1907

Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

No	487
Date of Notice	1 June 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Finlay	Ellen Johnson
BDM Match (93%)	Alfred Finlay	Ellen Johnstone
	💍 1907/2174
Condition	Bachelor	Divorcee
Profession	Baker
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Ponsonby
Length of Residence	29 years	18 years
Marriage Place	House of Bride, Ponsonby
Folio	07/2293
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 June 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

488

4 June 1907

John William Bookham
Rita Christine Christian

John William Bookham
Nita Ernestine Christian
💍 1907/2063

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

27
20

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
32 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

07/2187

Godfrey Christian, Father

4 June 1907

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	488
Date of Notice	4 June 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Bookham	Rita Christine Christian
BDM Match (90%)	John William Bookham	Nita Ernestine Christian
	💍 1907/2063
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	32 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	07/2187
Consent	Godfrey Christian, Father
Date of Certificate	4 June 1907
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

489

4 June 1907

Charles Frederick Pearson
Alma Carlyon

Charles Frederick Penson
Alma Carlyon
💍 1907/2241

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

33
34

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
8 months

Methodist Church, Pitt Street

07/2368

4 June 1907

Rev. J. A. Lurford, Methodist

No	489
Date of Notice	4 June 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Frederick Pearson	Alma Carlyon
BDM Match (96%)	Charles Frederick Penson	Alma Carlyon
	💍 1907/2241
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	33	34
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	8 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Pitt Street
Folio	07/2368
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Lurford, Methodist

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).