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 167

District of AUCKLAND Quarter ending 31 December 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

919

18 October 1907

George Stanley Ashby
Dorothea Smith

George Stanley Ashby
Dorothea Smith
💍 1907/6904

Bachelor
Spinster

Rattan Worker

24
25

Auckland
Auckland

24 years
6 years

St. Thomas Church, Union Street

07/6202

18 October 1907

Ven. Arch. W. Calder, Church of England

No	919
Date of Notice	18 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Stanley Ashby	Dorothea Smith
	💍 1907/6904
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Rattan Worker
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	24 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Thomas Church, Union Street
Folio	07/6202
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 October 1907
Officiating Minister	Ven. Arch. W. Calder, Church of England

920

18 October 1907

Lionel Otho Nugent Abbott
Grace Adelaide Roy

Lionel Othi Nugent Abbott
Grace Adelaide Roy
💍 1907/8150

Bachelor
Widow

Mechanical Engineer

33
40

Auckland
Auckland

33 years
15 years

St. Barnabas Church, Mt. Eden

07/6196

18 October 1907

Rev. E. J. McFarland, Church of England

No	920
Date of Notice	18 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lionel Otho Nugent Abbott	Grace Adelaide Roy
BDM Match (98%)	Lionel Othi Nugent Abbott	Grace Adelaide Roy
	💍 1907/8150
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Mechanical Engineer
Age	33	40
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	33 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St. Barnabas Church, Mt. Eden
Folio	07/6196
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 October 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. J. McFarland, Church of England

921

18 October 1907

Benjamin Leonard
Eliza Phoebe Smith

Benjamin Leonard
Eliza Phoebe Smith
💍 1907/6114

Widower
Spinster

Painter

55
48

Auckland
Auckland

2 years
2 years

House of Rev. M. Walker, Wellington Street

07/6307

18 October 1907

Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

No	921
Date of Notice	18 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin Leonard	Eliza Phoebe Smith
	💍 1907/6114
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	55	48
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. M. Walker, Wellington Street
Folio	07/6307
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 October 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

922

18 October 1907

Ernest Alfred Edgar Binns
Gertrude Teague

Ernest Alfred Edgar Binns
Gertrude Teague
💍 1907/6916

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine Engineer

26
27

Auckland
Auckland

26 years
27 years

House of Father of Bride, Salisbury Street, Grey Lynn

07/6236

18 October 1907

Rev. A. MacLean, Presbyterian

No	922
Date of Notice	18 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Alfred Edgar Binns	Gertrude Teague
	💍 1907/6916
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine Engineer
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	26 years	27 years
Marriage Place	House of Father of Bride, Salisbury Street, Grey Lynn
Folio	07/6236
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 October 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. MacLean, Presbyterian

923

18 October 1907

Ernest O'Malley Reilly
Cometa Hill

Ernest O'Malley Reilly
Cometa Hill
💍 1907/6844

Bachelor
Spinster

Gentleman

33
25

Auckland
Auckland

4 days
2 months

St. Matthew's Church, Auckland

07/6156

18 October 1907

Rev. W. E. Gillam, Church of England

No	923
Date of Notice	18 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest O'Malley Reilly	Cometa Hill
	💍 1907/6844
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gentleman
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 days	2 months
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Auckland
Folio	07/6156
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 October 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Gillam, Church of England

924

19 October 1907

George Neilson Ensor
Lillian Hillman Warner

George Neilson Ensor
Lillian Hillman Warner
💍 1907/6115

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

21
24

Auckland
Auckland

1 year
1 year

House of Rev. M. Walker, Wellington Street

07/6308

19 October 1907

Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

No	924
Date of Notice	19 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Neilson Ensor	Lillian Hillman Warner
	💍 1907/6115
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	21	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	House of Rev. M. Walker, Wellington Street
Folio	07/6308
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 October 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

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).