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 377

District of Rotorua Quarter ending 31 March 1907 Registrar G.A. Empson and A.F. Beur

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 January 1907

Albert Johnson
Mary Elizabeth Woolley

Albert Johnson
Mary Elizabeth Woolley
💍 1907/294

Bachelor
Widow

Clerk
nil

26
29

Rotorua
Rotorua

16 months
8 months

Roman Catholic Church, Rotorua

07/336

4 January 1907

Rev. C. W. J. Kreyneborg

No	1
Date of Notice	4 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Johnson	Mary Elizabeth Woolley
	💍 1907/294
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Clerk	nil
Age	26	29
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	16 months	8 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Rotorua
Folio	07/336
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. W. J. Kreyneborg

9 January 1907

Duncan William Steele
Ngauraua Butt

Duncan William Steele
Ngaroma Butt
💍 1907/1736

Widower
Spinster

Timber Merchant
Domestic duties

38
23

Rotorua
Rotorua

20 years
10 years

Church of England, Rotorua

07/1855

9 January 1907

Rev. C. A. Lidall

No	2
Date of Notice	9 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Duncan William Steele	Ngauraua Butt
BDM Match (88%)	Duncan William Steele	Ngaroma Butt
	💍 1907/1736
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Timber Merchant	Domestic duties
Age	38	23
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	20 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Rotorua
Folio	07/1855
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Lidall

13 February 1907

Walter Scott
Annie Walker

Walter Scott
Annie Walker
💍 1907/1737

Arthur Dickens
Annie Walker
💍 1907/6982

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Waitress

19
20

Rotorua
Rotorua

19 years
20 years

Church of England, Rotorua

07/1856

Caroline Scott (mother), James Walker (father)

13 February 1907

Rev. C. A. Lidall

No	3
Date of Notice	13 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Scott	Annie Walker
	💍 1907/1737
BDM Match (61%)	Arthur Dickens	Annie Walker
	💍 1907/6982
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Waitress
Age	19	20
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	19 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Rotorua
Folio	07/1856
Consent	Caroline Scott (mother), James Walker (father)
Date of Certificate	13 February 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Lidall

25 February 1907

John Rutter Rudge
Marion Eva Morris

John Rafter Rudge
Marion Eva Morris
💍 1907/292

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

24
22

Rotorua
Rotorua

4 days
4 days

Private House, 7. Stubbs, Rotorua

07/334

25 February 1907

Rev. F. Stubbs

No	4
Date of Notice	25 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Rutter Rudge	Marion Eva Morris
BDM Match (94%)	John Rafter Rudge	Marion Eva Morris
	💍 1907/292
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Private House, 7. Stubbs, Rotorua
Folio	07/334
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Stubbs

5 March 1907

Antony Christensen
Isabella Burkett

Antony Christensen
Isabella Birkett
💍 1907/1745

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

21
25

Mamaku
Mamaku (usual - Ongaonga)

4 days
10 days

St. Luke's Church, Rotorua

07/1857

5 March 1907

Rev. C. A. Lidall

No	5
Date of Notice	5 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Antony Christensen	Isabella Burkett
BDM Match (97%)	Antony Christensen	Isabella Birkett
	💍 1907/1745
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	21	25
Dwelling Place	Mamaku	Mamaku (usual - Ongaonga)
Length of Residence	4 days	10 days
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Rotorua
Folio	07/1857
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Lidall

14 March 1907

John William Cullen
Te Pai Kitiwiti

John William Cullen
Te Pae Kitawhiti
💍 1907/295

Bachelor
Spinster

Agent
Domestic duties

26
30

Rotorua
Whakarewarewa

4 months
10 years

Courthouse, Rotorua

07/337

14 March 1907

A. F. Beur (Registrar)

No	6
Date of Notice	14 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Cullen	Te Pai Kitiwiti
BDM Match (91%)	John William Cullen	Te Pae Kitawhiti
	💍 1907/295
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Agent	Domestic duties
Age	26	30
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Whakarewarewa
Length of Residence	4 months	10 years
Marriage Place	Courthouse, Rotorua
Folio	07/337
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1907
Officiating Minister	A. F. Beur (Registrar)

22 March 1907

William Walter Skinner
Jessie Munro

William Walter Skinner
Jessie Munro
💍 1907/296

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic duties

25
22

Rotorua
Rotorua

about 5 months
about 6 weeks

Courthouse, Rotorua

07/338

22 March 1907

A. F. Beur (Registrar)

No	7
Date of Notice	22 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Walter Skinner	Jessie Munro
	💍 1907/296
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic duties
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	about 5 months	about 6 weeks
Marriage Place	Courthouse, Rotorua
Folio	07/338
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1907
Officiating Minister	A. F. Beur (Registrar)

26 March 1907

Peter Goodin
Annie Olive Jane Thorne

Peter Goodin
Minnie Olive Jane Thorne
💍 1907/293

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine driver
Domestic duties

28
18

Mamaku
Mamaku

4 years
18 months

House of Mr. R. N. Thorne, Mamaku

07/335

Robert Henry Thorne (father)

28 March 1907

Rev. F. Stubbs

No	8
Date of Notice	26 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Goodin	Annie Olive Jane Thorne
BDM Match (96%)	Peter Goodin	Minnie Olive Jane Thorne
	💍 1907/293
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver	Domestic duties
Age	28	18
Dwelling Place	Mamaku	Mamaku
Length of Residence	4 years	18 months
Marriage Place	House of Mr. R. N. Thorne, Mamaku
Folio	07/335
Consent	Robert Henry Thorne (father)
Date of Certificate	28 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Stubbs

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).