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 140

District of AUCKLAND Quarter ending 30 September 1907

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

760

23 August 1907

William Verner Oswald Bell
Ida Isabel Morris

William Verner Oswald Bell
Ida Isabel Morris
💍 1907/4941

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

28
18

Auckland
Auckland

1 year 6 months
1 year 6 months

House of Rev. R. H. Catherwood, Grey Lynn

07/4432

Fourteen days n9otice

11 September 1907

Rev. R. H. Catherwood, Presbyterian

No	760
Date of Notice	23 August 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Verner Oswald Bell	Ida Isabel Morris
	💍 1907/4941
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	28	18
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 year 6 months	1 year 6 months
Marriage Place	House of Rev. R. H. Catherwood, Grey Lynn
Folio	07/4432
Consent	Fourteen days n9otice
Date of Certificate	11 September 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. H. Catherwood, Presbyterian

761

23 August 1907

Percival Spencer Boone
Jane Reynolds Porter

Percival Spencer Boom
Jane Reynolds Porter
💍 1907/4950

Widower
Spinster

Saddler

35
34

Auckland
Auckland

27 years
34 years

St David's Church, Khyber Pass

07/4442

23 August 1907

Rev. A. C. Wedderspoon, Presbyterian

No	761
Date of Notice	23 August 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percival Spencer Boone	Jane Reynolds Porter
BDM Match (95%)	Percival Spencer Boom	Jane Reynolds Porter
	💍 1907/4950
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Saddler
Age	35	34
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	27 years	34 years
Marriage Place	St David's Church, Khyber Pass
Folio	07/4442
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 August 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. C. Wedderspoon, Presbyterian

762

26 August 1907

Thomas Davidson
Violet Rubina Sinclair

Thomas Davidson
Violet Rubina Sinclair
💍 1907/3454

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper's Assistant

25
25

Auckland
Auckland

25 years
25 years

St. John's Methodist Church, Ponsonby

07/4504

26 August 1907

Rev. G. Bond, Methodist

No	762
Date of Notice	26 August 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Davidson	Violet Rubina Sinclair
	💍 1907/3454
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper's Assistant
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	25 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Methodist Church, Ponsonby
Folio	07/4504
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 August 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Bond, Methodist

763

26 August 1907

Josiah Alonzo Holroyd
Martha Virginia May Cantell

Josiah Alonzo Holroyd
Martha Virginia May Cantell
💍 1907/5025

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

18
20

Auckland
Auckland

18 years
20 years

House of Mr. E. Cantell, Grange Rd., Mount Eden

07/4579

Fourteen days Notice Richard Cantell, father

10 September 1907

Rev. E. A. Kirwood, Baptist

No	763
Date of Notice	26 August 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Josiah Alonzo Holroyd	Martha Virginia May Cantell
	💍 1907/5025
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	18	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	18 years	20 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. E. Cantell, Grange Rd., Mount Eden
Folio	07/4579
Consent	Fourteen days Notice Richard Cantell, father
Date of Certificate	10 September 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. A. Kirwood, Baptist

764

26 August 1907

Ronald Macdonald
Christina Isabella Smith

Ronald Macdonald
Christina Isabella Smith
💍 1907/2776

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrical Engineer

37
31

Auckland
Auckland

5 years
4 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

07/4363

26 August 1907

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	764
Date of Notice	26 August 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ronald Macdonald	Christina Isabella Smith
	💍 1907/2776
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrical Engineer
Age	37	31
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	07/4363
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 August 1907
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

765

27 August 1907

Sidney Herbert Smith
Martha May Olsen

Sidney Herbert Smith
Martha May Olsen
💍 1907/4901

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

25
19

Auckland
Auckland

25 years
19 years

Church of England, Mount Albert

07/4392

Andrew Olsen, father

27 August 1907

Rev. W. H. Wilson, Church of England

No	765
Date of Notice	27 August 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney Herbert Smith	Martha May Olsen
	💍 1907/4901
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	25 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Mount Albert
Folio	07/4392
Consent	Andrew Olsen, father
Date of Certificate	27 August 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Wilson, 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).