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 022

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

28 January 1907

William Albert Heard
Ruby Donaughey

William Albert Heard
Ruby Donaughey
💍 1907/8312

Bachelor
Spinster

Waiter

23
25

Auckland
Auckland

4 months
4 months

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

07/149

28 January 1907

Rev. W. S. Potter, Primitive Methodist

No	49
Date of Notice	28 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Albert Heard	Ruby Donaughey
	💍 1907/8312
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Waiter
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 months	4 months
Marriage Place	House of Rev. W. S. Potter, Wakefield St.
Folio	07/149
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Potter, Primitive Methodist

30 January 1907

William Edward Gale
Helen Meehan

William Edward Gale
Helen Meehan
💍 1907/122

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

27
21

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
4 years

Roman Catholic Church

07/85

30 January 1907

Rev. F. Buckley, Roman Catholic

No	80
Date of Notice	30 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edward Gale	Helen Meehan
	💍 1907/122
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	07/85
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Buckley, Roman Catholic

30 January 1907

Frederick Reynolds
Annie Kyle Lovie

Frederick Reynolds
Annie Lyle Lovie
💍 1907/51

Bachelor
Spinster

Jeweller's Clerk

25
23

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
4 years

Congregational Church, Mount Eden

07/12

30 January 1907

Rev. J. A. Luxford, Methodist

No	81
Date of Notice	30 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Reynolds	Annie Kyle Lovie
BDM Match (97%)	Frederick Reynolds	Annie Lyle Lovie
	💍 1907/51
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jeweller's Clerk
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Mount Eden
Folio	07/12
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Luxford, Methodist

30 January 1907

Peter McLaren Smith
Ella Lucy Edgecombe

Peter McLaren Smith
Ella Lucy Edgecombe
💍 1907/164

Bachelor
Widow

Settler

53
44

Auckland
Auckland

3 months
10 years

St. James' Manse, Auckland

07/154

30 January 1907

Rev. R. L. Walker, Presbyterian

No	82
Date of Notice	30 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter McLaren Smith	Ella Lucy Edgecombe
	💍 1907/164
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Settler
Age	53	44
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 months	10 years
Marriage Place	St. James' Manse, Auckland
Folio	07/154
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. L. Walker, Presbyterian

30 January 1907

James King Robb
Mary Elizabeth Webley

James King Robb
Mary Elizabeth Webley
💍 1907/1894

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine Engineer

49
29

Auckland
Auckland

3 months
29 years

Baptist Tabernacle, Auckland

07/2017

30 January 1907

Rev. W. R. Woolley, Baptist

No	83
Date of Notice	30 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James King Robb	Mary Elizabeth Webley
	💍 1907/1894
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine Engineer
Age	49	29
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 months	29 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Tabernacle, Auckland
Folio	07/2017
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. R. Woolley, Baptist

31 January 1907

William Mackenzie Fraser
Caroline Featherstone Griffin

William MacKenzie Fraser
Caroline Featherstone Griffin
💍 1907/8319

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

28
19

Auckland
Auckland

5 days
6 months

St. Matthew's Church, Auckland

07/133

Caroline de Burgh Griffin, Mother

31 January 1907

Rev. W. E. Gillam, Church of England

No	84
Date of Notice	31 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Mackenzie Fraser	Caroline Featherstone Griffin
BDM Match (98%)	William MacKenzie Fraser	Caroline Featherstone Griffin
	💍 1907/8319
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 days	6 months
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Auckland
Folio	07/133
Consent	Caroline de Burgh Griffin, Mother
Date of Certificate	31 January 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).