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 037

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

163

28 February 1907

James Robert Smith
Eva Rosina Madden

James Robert Smith
Eva Rosina Madden
💍 1907/8277

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
19

Auckland
Auckland

3 years
9 years

House of bridegroom, 45 Hayden Street

07/39

Isabella Boucher Madden, Mother

28 February 1907

Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

No	163
Date of Notice	28 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Robert Smith	Eva Rosina Madden
	💍 1907/8277
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	9 years
Marriage Place	House of bridegroom, 45 Hayden Street
Folio	07/39
Consent	Isabella Boucher Madden, Mother
Date of Certificate	28 February 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

164

28 February 1907

Thomas Elijah Webb
Ethel May McKenzie

Thomas Elijah Webb
Ethel May McKenzie
💍 1907/138

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

29
25

Auckland
Auckland

29 years
25 years

House of Rev. W. S. Potter, Wakefield Street

07/124

28 February 1907

Rev. W. S. Potter, Primitive Methodist

No	164
Date of Notice	28 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Elijah Webb	Ethel May McKenzie
	💍 1907/138
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	29 years	25 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. W. S. Potter, Wakefield Street
Folio	07/124
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Potter, Primitive Methodist

165

1 March 1907

Frederick Bradford
Phoebe Drew

Frederick Bradford
Phoebe Drew
💍 1907/8332

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

32
24

Auckland
Auckland

10 months
10 months

Baptist Church, Mount Roskill

07/221

1 March 1907

Rev. E. A. Kinwood, Baptist

No	165
Date of Notice	1 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Bradford	Phoebe Drew
	💍 1907/8332
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 months	10 months
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Mount Roskill
Folio	07/221
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. A. Kinwood, Baptist

166

1 March 1907

Bert Phillip Oliver
Sadie Jane Speer

Bert Phillip Oliver
Sadie Jane Speer
💍 1907/8278

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser

29
27

Auckland
Auckland

10 months
25 years

House of Rev. M. Walker, Wellington Street

07/40

1 March 1907

Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

No	166
Date of Notice	1 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bert Phillip Oliver	Sadie Jane Speer
	💍 1907/8278
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 months	25 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. M. Walker, Wellington Street
Folio	07/40
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

167

2 March 1907

Robert John Pedder
Caroline Deborah Henrietta Sommerfield

Robert John Pedder
Caroline Deborah Henrietta Sommerfield
💍 1907/165

Bachelor
Spinster

Male Nurse

29
27

Auckland
Auckland

2 weeks
4 months

St. James Presbyterian Church, Wellington Street

07/155

2 March 1907

Rev. R. L. Walker, Presbyterian

No	167
Date of Notice	2 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert John Pedder	Caroline Deborah Henrietta Sommerfield
	💍 1907/165
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Male Nurse
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 weeks	4 months
Marriage Place	St. James Presbyterian Church, Wellington Street
Folio	07/155
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. L. Walker, Presbyterian

168

2 March 1907

Frederic William East
Isabel Marcia Allsopp

Frederic William East
Isabel Marcia Allsopp
💍 1907/8305

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

26
21

Auckland
Auckland

2 years
1/4 year

St. Matthew's Church, Auckland

07/143

2 March 1907

Rev. W. E. Gillam, Church of England

No	168
Date of Notice	2 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederic William East	Isabel Marcia Allsopp
	💍 1907/8305
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	1/4 year
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Auckland
Folio	07/143
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Gillam, 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).