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 041

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 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

187

4 March 1907

Tom Wood
Lily May Lyttle

Tom Wood
Lily May Lyttle
💍 1907/8307

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

24
21

Auckland
Auckland

24 years
21 years

St Matthew's Church, Auckland

07/145

4 March 1907

Rev. W. E. Gillam, Church of England

No	187
Date of Notice	4 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Tom Wood	Lily May Lyttle
	💍 1907/8307
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	24 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St Matthew's Church, Auckland
Folio	07/145
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Gillam, Church of England

188

4 March 1907

Hugh Gresham
Eleanor Rewanga Gannon

Hugh Gresham
Eleanor Rewanga Gannon
💍 1907/131

Bachelor
Spinster

Inspector of scaffolding

27
25

Auckland
Auckland

12 years
12 years

All Saints Church, Ponsonby

07/118

7 March 1907

Ven. Arch. W. Calder, Church of England

No	188
Date of Notice	4 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Gresham	Eleanor Rewanga Gannon
	💍 1907/131
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Inspector of scaffolding
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	12 years	12 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Ponsonby
Folio	07/118
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Ven. Arch. W. Calder, Church of England

189

8 March 1907

George Thomas Denniston-James
Eileen Kyle

George Thomas Denniston James
Eileen Kyle
💍 1907/1753

Bachelor
Spinster

Steward

24
19

Auckland
Auckland

1 day
9 years

St Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland

07/1873

James Kyle, father

8 March 1907

Rev. H. F. Holbrook, Roman Catholic

No	189
Date of Notice	8 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Thomas Denniston-James	Eileen Kyle
BDM Match (98%)	George Thomas Denniston James	Eileen Kyle
	💍 1907/1753
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Steward
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 day	9 years
Marriage Place	St Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland
Folio	07/1873
Consent	James Kyle, father
Date of Certificate	8 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. F. Holbrook, Roman Catholic

190

8 March 1907

George Allan
Jessie Anderson

George Allan
Jessie Anderson
💍 1907/166

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner

26
23

Auckland
Auckland

7 months
7 months

St James's Manse Auckland

07/156

8 March 1907

Rev. R. L. Walker, Presbyterian

No	190
Date of Notice	8 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Allan	Jessie Anderson
	💍 1907/166
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	7 months	7 months
Marriage Place	St James's Manse Auckland
Folio	07/156
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. L. Walker, Presbyterian

191

9 March 1907

Rodney Douglas Cornell
Olive Selwyn Beata Smith

Rodney Douglas Connell
Olive Selwyn Beata Smith
💍 1907/125

Bachelor
Spinster

Artist

28
25

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
25 years

St Sepulchre's Church, Auckland

07/112

9 March 1907

Rev. G. A. Carver, Church of England

No	191
Date of Notice	9 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rodney Douglas Cornell	Olive Selwyn Beata Smith
BDM Match (98%)	Rodney Douglas Connell	Olive Selwyn Beata Smith
	💍 1907/125
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Artist
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	25 years
Marriage Place	St Sepulchre's Church, Auckland
Folio	07/112
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. A. Carver, Church of England

192

9 March 1907

Alexander McBurne
Ellen Jane McLellan

Alexander McCune
Ellen Jane McLellan
💍 1907/8334

Bachelor
Spinster

Tramway Linesman

26
27

Auckland
Ponsonby

23 years
1 week

House of father of bridegroom

07/222

9 March 1907

Rev. R. Sommerville, Presbyterian

No	192
Date of Notice	9 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander McBurne	Ellen Jane McLellan
BDM Match (94%)	Alexander McCune	Ellen Jane McLellan
	💍 1907/8334
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tramway Linesman
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Ponsonby
Length of Residence	23 years	1 week
Marriage Place	House of father of bridegroom
Folio	07/222
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Sommerville, Presbyterian

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).