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 121

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

646

18 July 1907

William Campbell Mitchell
Mary Fawcett Cuthbertson

William Campbell Mitchell
Mary Fawcett Cuthbertson
💍 1907/4993

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

24
23

Auckland
Auckland

18 years
23 years

Knox Church, Parnell

07/4461

18 July 1907

Rev. G. B. Monro, Presbyterian

No	646
Date of Notice	18 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Campbell Mitchell	Mary Fawcett Cuthbertson
	💍 1907/4993
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	18 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Knox Church, Parnell
Folio	07/4461
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Monro, Presbyterian

647

18 July 1907

Thomas Henry White
Ruby Elizabeth Ryan

Thomas Henry White
Ruby Elizabeth Ryan
💍 1907/4982

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

31
20

Auckland
Auckland

30 years
20 years

St. Benedict's Church, Auckland

07/4474

18 July 1907

Rev. G. H. Gillan, Roman Catholic

No	647
Date of Notice	18 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry White	Ruby Elizabeth Ryan
	💍 1907/4982
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	31	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	30 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Benedict's Church, Auckland
Folio	07/4474
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Gillan, Roman Catholic

648

18 July 1907

Reginald Pile
Emily Drury

Reginald Pile
Emily Drury
💍 1907/3462

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

31
24

Auckland
Auckland

2 weeks
5 weeks

Roman Catholic Church, Parnell

07/4489

18 July 1907

Rev. J. P. Kehoe, Roman Catholic

No	648
Date of Notice	18 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Pile	Emily Drury
	💍 1907/3462
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 weeks	5 weeks
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Parnell
Folio	07/4489
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. P. Kehoe, Roman Catholic

649

18 July 1907

Charles Robert Hitchens
Mary Harkins

Charles Robert Hitchens
Mary Harkins
💍 1907/4939

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
21

Auckland
Auckland

23 years
21 years

House of Mr L.. Easdale, Arch Hill

07/4430

18 July 1907

Rev. R. H. Catherwood, Presbyterian

No	649
Date of Notice	18 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Robert Hitchens	Mary Harkins
	💍 1907/4939
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	23 years	21 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr L.. Easdale, Arch Hill
Folio	07/4430
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. H. Catherwood, Presbyterian

650

19 July 1907

Ernest John Durbin
Elizabeth Ann Downs

Ernest John Durbin
Elizabeth Ann Downs
💍 1907/3423

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
24

Auckland
England

6 months
24 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

07/4343

19 July 1907

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	650
Date of Notice	19 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest John Durbin	Elizabeth Ann Downs
	💍 1907/3423
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	England
Length of Residence	6 months	24 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	07/4343
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1907
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

651

20 July 1907

Edward Joseph Murphy
Amalie Margaret Paulsen

Edward Joseph Murphy
Amalie Margaret Paulsen
💍 1907/4998

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

28
24

Auckland
Auckland

15 months
20 years

Methodist Church, Kingsland

07/4509

20 July 1907

Rev. A. N. Scotter, Methodist

No	651
Date of Notice	20 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Joseph Murphy	Amalie Margaret Paulsen
	💍 1907/4998
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	15 months	20 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Kingsland
Folio	07/4509
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. N. Scotter, Methodist

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).