Intentions to Marry, 1907 Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840434, 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 107

District of Levin Quarter ending 31 March 1907 Registrar William Charles Nation

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

201

2 January 1907

Frederick Grove Chambers
Elizabeth Alice Ferris

Frederick Groves Chambers
Elizabeth Alice Ferris
💍 1907/515

Widower
Spinster

Carpenter
Home duties

28
20

Levin
Levin

Two years
Three years

Office of Registrar, Levin

07/600

Mary Annie Ferris, mother

2 January 1907

H. C. Nation

No	201
Date of Notice	2 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Grove Chambers	Elizabeth Alice Ferris
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick Groves Chambers	Elizabeth Alice Ferris
	💍 1907/515
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Home duties
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Levin	Levin
Length of Residence	Two years	Three years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar, Levin
Folio	07/600
Consent	Mary Annie Ferris, mother
Date of Certificate	2 January 1907
Officiating Minister	H. C. Nation

202

20 January 1907

Frederick William Hose
Edith Wakefield

Frederick William Hose
Edith Wakefield
💍 1907/517

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

22
19

Harowhenua Village Settlement
Harowhenua Village Settlement

Ten years
Three years

Office of Registrar, Levin

07/602

William Wakefield, father

20 January 1907

M. C. Nation

No	202
Date of Notice	20 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Hose	Edith Wakefield
	💍 1907/517
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Harowhenua Village Settlement	Harowhenua Village Settlement
Length of Residence	Ten years	Three years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar, Levin
Folio	07/602
Consent	William Wakefield, father
Date of Certificate	20 January 1907
Officiating Minister	M. C. Nation

203

26 January 1907

John Frederick Young
Caroline Hill

John Frederick Young
Caroline Hill
💍 1907/516

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner
Domestic duties

22
26

Levin
Levin

Five months
Two weeks

Office of Registrar, Levin

07/601

26 January 1907

M. C. Nation

No	203
Date of Notice	26 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Frederick Young	Caroline Hill
	💍 1907/516
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner	Domestic duties
Age	22	26
Dwelling Place	Levin	Levin
Length of Residence	Five months	Two weeks
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar, Levin
Folio	07/601
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1907
Officiating Minister	M. C. Nation

204

28 January 1907

William Oscar Cook
Beatrice Mary Blair

William Oscar Cook
Beatrice Mary Blair
💍 1907/513

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Domestic duties

29
23

Levin
Levin

Three days
Three days

English Church, Levin

07/598

28 January 1907

Rev. A. E. Worsley

No	204
Date of Notice	28 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Oscar Cook	Beatrice Mary Blair
	💍 1907/513
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Domestic duties
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Levin	Levin
Length of Residence	Three days	Three days
Marriage Place	English Church, Levin
Folio	07/598
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. E. Worsley

205

16 February 1907

Michael Charles Flaherty
Kezia Ellen Purcell

Michael Charles Flaherty
Kezia Ellen Purcell
💍 1907/514

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

23
18

Levin
Levin

Three years
Seven years

Residence of Mr. Purcell, Levin

07/599

Frederick Purcell, father

16 February 1907

M. C. Nation

No	205
Date of Notice	16 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Charles Flaherty	Kezia Ellen Purcell
	💍 1907/514
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Levin	Levin
Length of Residence	Three years	Seven years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Purcell, Levin
Folio	07/599
Consent	Frederick Purcell, father
Date of Certificate	16 February 1907
Officiating Minister	M. C. Nation

206

19 February 1907

Samuel Holmes
Phoebe Durston Richmond

Samuel Holmes
Phoebe Durston Richmond
💍 1907/519

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm hand
Domestic

18
19

Levin
Levin

Three days
Three weeks

Office of Registrar, Levin

07/603

John Holmes, father; Walter Richmond, father

19 February 1907

M. C. Nation

No	206
Date of Notice	19 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Holmes	Phoebe Durston Richmond
	💍 1907/519
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm hand	Domestic
Age	18	19
Dwelling Place	Levin	Levin
Length of Residence	Three days	Three weeks
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar, Levin
Folio	07/603
Consent	John Holmes, father; Walter Richmond, father
Date of Certificate	19 February 1907
Officiating Minister	M. C. Nation

207

22 March 1907

David Row
Mary Thornton

David Row
Mary Thornton
💍 1907/1882

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Dressmaker

30
28

Levin
Levin

Eight years
Two years

Catholic Church, Levin

07/2002

22 March 1907

Rev. Father Scauffer

No	207
Date of Notice	22 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Row	Mary Thornton
	💍 1907/1882
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Dressmaker
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Levin	Levin
Length of Residence	Eight years	Two years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church, Levin
Folio	07/2002
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Scauffer

208

22 March 1907

George Edward Clifford-Marsh
Sarah Emma Corney

George Edward Clifford Marsh
Sarah Emma Corney
💍 1907/520

Divorced
Spinster

Painter
Home duties

36
26

Levin
Levin

Five years
Five years

Registrar's Office, Levin

07/604

22 March 1907

M. C. Nation

No	208
Date of Notice	22 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Edward Clifford-Marsh	Sarah Emma Corney
BDM Match (98%)	George Edward Clifford Marsh	Sarah Emma Corney
	💍 1907/520
Condition	Divorced	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Home duties
Age	36	26
Dwelling Place	Levin	Levin
Length of Residence	Five years	Five years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Levin
Folio	07/604
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1907
Officiating Minister	M. C. Nation

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 1903. 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).