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 618

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 31 December 1907 Registrar Henry Ewart Neill

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

1840

12 October 1907

Stephen England Gillingham
Evelyn Annie Wachomann

Stephen England Gillingham
Evelyn Annie Wachsmann
💍 1907/6963

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Domestic Duties

26
21

Te Arai, Poverty Bay
Gisborne

1 year
3 1/2 years

At the Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne, Poverty Bay

07/6378

12 October 1907

Rev. Leslie Dawson Thomas, Church of England

No	1840
Date of Notice	12 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stephen England Gillingham	Evelyn Annie Wachomann
BDM Match (98%)	Stephen England Gillingham	Evelyn Annie Wachsmann
	💍 1907/6963
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Te Arai, Poverty Bay	Gisborne
Length of Residence	1 year	3 1/2 years
Marriage Place	At the Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne, Poverty Bay
Folio	07/6378
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 October 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. Leslie Dawson Thomas, Church of England

1841

14 October 1907

Montague William Craig
Adelaide Corbines

Montague William Craig
Adelaide Carbines
💍 1907/6168

Bachelor
Spinster

Auctioneer
Domestic Duties

25
24

Gisborne, Poverty Bay
Gisborne

All life
12 months

At private residence of the father of bridegroom, Upper Gladstone Road, Gisborne

07/6398

14 October 1907

Rev. Cornelius Griffin, Methodist

No	1841
Date of Notice	14 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Montague William Craig	Adelaide Corbines
BDM Match (97%)	Montague William Craig	Adelaide Carbines
	💍 1907/6168
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Auctioneer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Gisborne, Poverty Bay	Gisborne
Length of Residence	All life	12 months
Marriage Place	At private residence of the father of bridegroom, Upper Gladstone Road, Gisborne
Folio	07/6398
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. Cornelius Griffin, Methodist

1842

26 October 1907

George Boreham
Mary Agnew

George Boreham
Mary Agnew
💍 1907/6971

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic Duties

28
20

Tologa Bay & East Coast
Tologa Bay

15 years
All life

At private residence of Mrs. M. M. Tullock (Aunt of bride), Tologa Bay, East Coast

07/6386

Peter Agnew, father

26 October 1907

Rev. William Robinson, Church of England

No	1842
Date of Notice	26 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Boreham	Mary Agnew
	💍 1907/6971
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic Duties
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Tologa Bay & East Coast	Tologa Bay
Length of Residence	15 years	All life
Marriage Place	At private residence of Mrs. M. M. Tullock (Aunt of bride), Tologa Bay, East Coast
Folio	07/6386
Consent	Peter Agnew, father
Date of Certificate	26 October 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Robinson, Church of England

1843

5 November 1907

Charles Herbert Gardham
Christina Peveral

Charles Herbert Gardham
Christina Pevreal
💍 1907/8223

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Servant

24
21

Gisborne, Poverty Bay
Gisborne

5 years
9 years

At the private residence of the bride's father, Taruheru, Poverty Bay

07/6379

5 November 1907

Rev. Leslie Dawson Thomas, Church of England

No	1843
Date of Notice	5 November 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Herbert Gardham	Christina Peveral
BDM Match (94%)	Charles Herbert Gardham	Christina Pevreal
	💍 1907/8223
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Servant
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Gisborne, Poverty Bay	Gisborne
Length of Residence	5 years	9 years
Marriage Place	At the private residence of the bride's father, Taruheru, Poverty Bay
Folio	07/6379
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 November 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. Leslie Dawson Thomas, Church of England

1844

5 November 1907

Ernest Spank Purdon
Beatrice Georgina Shanley

Ernest Frank Purdon
Beatrice Georgina Shanley
💍 1907/8224

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph Lineman
Domestic Duties

25
21

Gisborne, Poverty Bay
Gisborne

3 months
About 7 months

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne, Poverty Bay

07/6391

5 November 1907

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	1844
Date of Notice	5 November 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Spank Purdon	Beatrice Georgina Shanley
BDM Match (95%)	Ernest Frank Purdon	Beatrice Georgina Shanley
	💍 1907/8224
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph Lineman	Domestic Duties
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Gisborne, Poverty Bay	Gisborne
Length of Residence	3 months	About 7 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne, Poverty Bay
Folio	07/6391
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 November 1907
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

1845

9 November 1907

Walter Birkett
Harriet Roderick

Walter Birkett
Harriet Roderick
💍 1907/6964

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

26
28

Gisborne, Poverty Bay
Gisborne

5 years
6 years

At Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne, Poverty Bay

07/6380

9 November 1907

Rev. Leslie Dawson Thomas, Church of England

No	1845
Date of Notice	9 November 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Birkett	Harriet Roderick
	💍 1907/6964
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Gisborne, Poverty Bay	Gisborne
Length of Residence	5 years	6 years
Marriage Place	At Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne, Poverty Bay
Folio	07/6380
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 November 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. Leslie Dawson Thomas, Church of England

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).