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 621

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 31 December 1907 Registrar Henry Smart Hill

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

1858

9 October 1907

Michael Ryan
Alison Church

Michael Ryan
Alison Church
💍 1907/6165

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

44
27

Gisborne, Poverty Bay
Gisborne

14 years
2 years

At the Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne, Poverty Bay

07/6395

9 October 1907

Rev Thomas Lane, Roman Catholic

No	1858
Date of Notice	9 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Ryan	Alison Church
	💍 1907/6165
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	44	27
Dwelling Place	Gisborne, Poverty Bay	Gisborne
Length of Residence	14 years	2 years
Marriage Place	At the Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne, Poverty Bay
Folio	07/6395
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 October 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev Thomas Lane, Roman Catholic

1859

9 October 1907

Alexander Neil
Daisy Ethel Barnes

Alexander Neil
Daisy Ethel Barnes
💍 1907/6968

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

32
27

Gisborne, Poverty Bay
Gisborne

6 years
3 years

At Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne, Poverty Bay

07/6384

9 October 1907

Rev Leslie Dawson Thomas, Church of England

No	1859
Date of Notice	9 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Neil	Daisy Ethel Barnes
	💍 1907/6968
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	32	27
Dwelling Place	Gisborne, Poverty Bay	Gisborne
Length of Residence	6 years	3 years
Marriage Place	At Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne, Poverty Bay
Folio	07/6384
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 October 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev Leslie Dawson Thomas, Church of England

1860

12 October 1907

Frances Walter Selves
Catherine Clara Louisa Wildish

Francis Walter Selves
Catherine Clara Louisa Wildish
💍 1907/6970

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic duties

27
20

Gisborne, Poverty Bay
Gisborne

6 years
All life

At Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne, Poverty Bay

07/6385

George Thomas Wildish (Father)

12 October 1907

Rev Leslie Dawson Thomas, Church of England

No	1860
Date of Notice	12 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frances Walter Selves	Catherine Clara Louisa Wildish
BDM Match (98%)	Francis Walter Selves	Catherine Clara Louisa Wildish
	💍 1907/6970
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic duties
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Gisborne, Poverty Bay	Gisborne
Length of Residence	6 years	All life
Marriage Place	At Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne, Poverty Bay
Folio	07/6385
Consent	George Thomas Wildish (Father)
Date of Certificate	12 October 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev Leslie Dawson Thomas, Church of England

1861

14 October 1907

William Henry Brett
Blanche Evelyn Mayes generally known as "Blanche Evelyn Lynch". Mayes was adopted when a child 1 month old no legal papers (adoption) in existence

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

29
21

Patutahi, Poverty Bay
Patutahi

2 1/2 years
5 years

At Church of England, Patutahi, Poverty Bay

07/8216

14 October 1907

Rev Matthew William Butterfield, Church of England

No	1861
Date of Notice	14 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Brett	Blanche Evelyn Mayes generally known as "Blanche Evelyn Lynch". Mayes was adopted when a child 1 month old no legal papers (adoption) in existence
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Patutahi, Poverty Bay	Patutahi
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	5 years
Marriage Place	At Church of England, Patutahi, Poverty Bay
Folio	07/8216
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev Matthew William Butterfield, Church of England

1862

17 October 1907

Alexander Wallace Williamson
Katherine Josephine Farrell

Alexander Wallace Williamson
Katherine Josephine Farrell
💍 1907/6166

Bachelor
Spinster

Slaughterman
Domestic duties

31
28

Gisborne, Poverty Bay
Gisborne

15 years
4 years

At the Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne, Poverty Bay

07/6396

18 October 1907

Rev Thomas Lane (Roman Catholic)

No	1862
Date of Notice	17 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Wallace Williamson	Katherine Josephine Farrell
	💍 1907/6166
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman	Domestic duties
Age	31	28
Dwelling Place	Gisborne, Poverty Bay	Gisborne
Length of Residence	15 years	4 years
Marriage Place	At the Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne, Poverty Bay
Folio	07/6396
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 October 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev Thomas Lane (Roman Catholic)

1863

24 October 1907

Joseph James Bradford
Jessie Morris

Joseph James Bradford
Jessie Morris
💍 1907/6156

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

28
26

Gisborne, Poverty Bay
Te Arai, Poverty Bay

18 months
All life

At the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

07/6392

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	1863
Date of Notice	24 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph James Bradford	Jessie Morris
	💍 1907/6156
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Gisborne, Poverty Bay	Te Arai, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	18 months	All life
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	07/6392
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

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).