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 178

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 December 1907 Registrar E. H. 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

985

4 November 1907

Washington Louis Simpson
Ellen Bond

Washington Louis Simpson
Ellen Bond
💍 1907/6922

Widower
Widow

Mariner

66
55

Auckland
Auckland

25 years
30 years

House of bridegroom, 18 Vincent Street

07/6241

4 November 1907

Rev. R. Sommerville, Presbyterian

No	985
Date of Notice	4 November 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Washington Louis Simpson	Ellen Bond
	💍 1907/6922
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Mariner
Age	66	55
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	25 years	30 years
Marriage Place	House of bridegroom, 18 Vincent Street
Folio	07/6241
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Sommerville, Presbyterian

986

4 November 1907

William Louis Graf
Caroline Jaster

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

30
26

Auckland
Auckland

10 years
8 years

St. Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland

07/8178

4 November 1907

Rev. H. F. Holbrook, Roman Catholic

No	986
Date of Notice	4 November 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Louis Graf	Caroline Jaster
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland
Folio	07/8178
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. F. Holbrook, Roman Catholic

987

5 November 1907

Clifford Tattersfield
Mary Stubley

Clifford Tattersfield
Mary Stubley
💍 1907/6341

Bachelor
Spinster

Dyer

28
23

Auckland
England

3 days
23 years

Congregational Church, Beresford Street

07/6342

5 November 1907

Rev. John Wilkins, Congregational Independent

No	987
Date of Notice	5 November 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clifford Tattersfield	Mary Stubley
	💍 1907/6341
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dyer
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	England
Length of Residence	3 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Beresford Street
Folio	07/6342
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 November 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Wilkins, Congregational Independent

988

5 November 1907

John Taberner
Lillian Thorne

John Taborner
Gillian Thorne
💍 1907/6332

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

25
25

Auckland
Auckland

5 years
6 weeks

House of Rev. A. North, Ponsonby

07/6333

5 November 1907

Rev. A. North, Baptist

No	988
Date of Notice	5 November 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Taberner	Lillian Thorne
BDM Match (93%)	John Taborner	Gillian Thorne
	💍 1907/6332
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years	6 weeks
Marriage Place	House of Rev. A. North, Ponsonby
Folio	07/6333
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 November 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. North, Baptist

989

5 November 1907

James Halifax Stewart
Annie Stewart

James Halifax Stewart
Annie Stewart
💍 1907/8154

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

30
31

Auckland
Auckland

17 years
31 years

St. Luke's Church Remuera

07/6216

5 November 1907

Rev. J. E. Bertram, Presbyterian

No	989
Date of Notice	5 November 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Halifax Stewart	Annie Stewart
	💍 1907/8154
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	30	31
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	17 years	31 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church Remuera
Folio	07/6216
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 November 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. E. Bertram, Presbyterian

990

6 November 1907

Henry Caple Coe
Elizabeth Cooney

Henry Caple Coe
Elizabeth Cooney
💍 1907/3970

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
24

Auckland
Auckland

2 weeks
3 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

07/6110

6 November 1907

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	990
Date of Notice	6 November 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Caple Coe	Elizabeth Cooney
	💍 1907/3970
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 weeks	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	07/6110
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1907
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

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).