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 292

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 December 1907 Registrar William M Potto

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

4 October 1907

Alfred William James Vercoe
Agnes Price Adamson

Alfred William James Vercoe
Agnes Price Adamson
💍 1907/7030

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic duties

20
21

Thames
Thames

20 years
3 years

In the house of Mr. Vercoe, Thames

07/6484

John Vercoe, Father

4 October 1907

E. H. Taylor, Church of Christ

No	44
Date of Notice	4 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred William James Vercoe	Agnes Price Adamson
	💍 1907/7030
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic duties
Age	20	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	20 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Vercoe, Thames
Folio	07/6484
Consent	John Vercoe, Father
Date of Certificate	4 October 1907
Officiating Minister	E. H. Taylor, Church of Christ

21 October 1907

Alfred Fellows
Ethel Taylor

Alfred Fellowes
Ethel Taylor
💍 1907/7008

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

28
23

Thames
Thames

2 days
23 years

In the house of Mrs. Taylor, Thames

07/6485

23 October 1907

E. H. Taylor, Church of Christ

No	45
Date of Notice	21 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Fellows	Ethel Taylor
BDM Match (97%)	Alfred Fellowes	Ethel Taylor
	💍 1907/7008
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 days	23 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs. Taylor, Thames
Folio	07/6485
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 October 1907
Officiating Minister	E. H. Taylor, Church of Christ

25 October 1907

Francis John Trevelyan
Bertha Ellen Laurie

Francis John Trevelyan
Bertha Ellen Laurie
💍 1907/7009

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Dressmaker

23
21

Thames
Thames

1 day
21 years

In the house of Mr. Laurie, Thames

07/6486

28 October 1907

Rev. J. Blight, Methodist Church of Australasia

No	46
Date of Notice	25 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis John Trevelyan	Bertha Ellen Laurie
	💍 1907/7009
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Dressmaker
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	1 day	21 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Laurie, Thames
Folio	07/6486
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 October 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Blight, Methodist Church of Australasia

1 November 1907

Percival Ellis Doidge
Lily May Tierney

Percival Ellis Doidge
Lily May Tierney
💍 1907/7017

Bachelor
Spinster

Moulder
Domestic duties

20
20

Thames
Thames

2 days
2 days

Registrar's Office, Thames

07/6494

Ann Elizabeth Doidge (Mother), Thomas Tierney (Father)

3 November 1907

William M. Potto, Registrar

No	47
Date of Notice	1 November 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percival Ellis Doidge	Lily May Tierney
	💍 1907/7017
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Moulder	Domestic duties
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 days	2 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Thames
Folio	07/6494
Consent	Ann Elizabeth Doidge (Mother), Thomas Tierney (Father)
Date of Certificate	3 November 1907
Officiating Minister	William M. Potto, Registrar

7 November 1907

Tohi Watna
Tapeka Tahatika

Tohi Watna
Tapeka Tahatika
💍 1907/7019

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

26
29

Thames
Thames

26 years
29 years

Registrar's Office, Thames

07/6495

7 November 1907

William M. Potto, Registrar

No	48
Date of Notice	7 November 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Tohi Watna	Tapeka Tahatika
	💍 1907/7019
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	26	29
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	26 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Thames
Folio	07/6495
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 November 1907
Officiating Minister	William M. Potto, Registrar

18 November 1907

William Otto
Violet Evelene Bopall

William Otto
Violet Evelyn Boxall
💍 1907/7013

Bachelor
Spinster

Master Mariner
Household duties

30
27

Thames
Thames

3 days
27 years

Church of England, Thames

07/6490

19 November 1907

D. O'Callaghan, Church of England

No	49
Date of Notice	18 November 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Otto	Violet Evelene Bopall
BDM Match (93%)	William Otto	Violet Evelyn Boxall
	💍 1907/7013
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Master Mariner	Household duties
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	27 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Thames
Folio	07/6490
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 November 1907
Officiating Minister	D. O'Callaghan, Church of England

23 November 1907

Edmund Morrin Cornes
Alice May Brown

Edmund Morris Cornes
Alice May Brown
💍 1907/7020

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

28
24

Thames
Thames, Karaka

1 day
24 years

In the house of Mr. Brown, Thames, Karaka

07/6496

27 November 1907

E. H. Taylor, Church of Christ

No	50
Date of Notice	23 November 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmund Morrin Cornes	Alice May Brown
BDM Match (98%)	Edmund Morris Cornes	Alice May Brown
	💍 1907/7020
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames, Karaka
Length of Residence	1 day	24 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Brown, Thames, Karaka
Folio	07/6496
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 November 1907
Officiating Minister	E. H. Taylor, Church of Christ

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).