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 113

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 September 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

598

1 July 1907

Hugh Richard Samuel Deck
Ruth Francis Duncan

Hugh Richard Samuel Dick
Ruth Frances Duncan
💍 1907/4925

Bachelor
Spinster

Estate Agent

27
23

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
3 days

Church of England Northcote

07/4416

1 July 1907

Rev. W. G. Monckton Church of England

No	598
Date of Notice	1 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Richard Samuel Deck	Ruth Francis Duncan
BDM Match (95%)	Hugh Richard Samuel Dick	Ruth Frances Duncan
	💍 1907/4925
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Estate Agent
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Church of England Northcote
Folio	07/4416
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Monckton Church of England

599

2 July 1907

Harold Isbister Blow
Mary Elizabeth Griffiths

Hawke Isbister Blow
Mary Elizabeth Griffiths
💍 1907/4926

Bachelor
Spinster

School Teacher

26
21

Auckland
Auckland

10 years
21 years

St Mark's Church Remuera

07/4417

2 July 1907

Rev. W. Beatty Church of England

No	599
Date of Notice	2 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Isbister Blow	Mary Elizabeth Griffiths
BDM Match (90%)	Hawke Isbister Blow	Mary Elizabeth Griffiths
	💍 1907/4926
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School Teacher
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St Mark's Church Remuera
Folio	07/4417
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Beatty Church of England

600

2 July 1907

William Murray
Kate Harris

William Murray
Kate Harris
💍 1907/4983

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

45
35

Auckland
Auckland

3 months
3 months

St Patrick's Cathedral Auckland

07/4475

2 July 1907

Rev. H. F. Holbrook Roman Catholic

No	600
Date of Notice	2 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Murray	Kate Harris
	💍 1907/4983
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	45	35
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 months	3 months
Marriage Place	St Patrick's Cathedral Auckland
Folio	07/4475
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. F. Holbrook Roman Catholic

601

2 July 1907

Francis Henry Leyden
Minnie Henderson

Francis Henry Leyden
Minnie Henderson
💍 1907/8176

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist's Assistant

25
22

Auckland
Auckland

10 years
22 years

House of father of bride, Jervois Rd

07/4561

2 July 1907

Rev. G. Clement Primitive Methodist

No	601
Date of Notice	2 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Henry Leyden	Minnie Henderson
	💍 1907/8176
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist's Assistant
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 years	22 years
Marriage Place	House of father of bride, Jervois Rd
Folio	07/4561
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Clement Primitive Methodist

602

2 July 1907

John Herbert Ferguson
Helen Vencie Menzies

John Herbert Ferguson
Helen Vencie Menzies
💍 1907/4969

Bachelor
Spinster

Coach-builder

29
25

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
5 months

St Andrew's Church Auckland

07/4438

2 July 1907

Rev. T. Scott Presbyterian

No	602
Date of Notice	2 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Herbert Ferguson	Helen Vencie Menzies
	💍 1907/4969
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coach-builder
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	5 months
Marriage Place	St Andrew's Church Auckland
Folio	07/4438
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Scott Presbyterian

603

2 July 1907

William Martin
Jane Gibbs

William Martin
Jane Gibbs
💍 1907/3449

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

50
39

Auckland
Auckland

25 years
10 years

House of Mr Sykes Grey Lynn

07/4499

2 July 1907

Rev. J. Wilson Methodist

No	603
Date of Notice	2 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Martin	Jane Gibbs
	💍 1907/3449
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	50	39
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	25 years	10 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr Sykes Grey Lynn
Folio	07/4499
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Wilson 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).