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 168

District of Pahiatua Quarter ending 31 March 1907 Registrar J. Dias Serall

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

14 January 1907

John Jas. Spring
Katherine Clare Bernadesse

John James Spring
Katherine Clare Bernardette McBride
💍 1907/548

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Cook

28
25

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

2 years
1 month

R.C. Church, Pahiatua

07/632

14 January 1907

Thos. McKenna

No	1
Date of Notice	14 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Jas. Spring	Katherine Clare Bernadesse
BDM Match (76%)	John James Spring	Katherine Clare Bernardette McBride
	💍 1907/548
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Cook
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	2 years	1 month
Marriage Place	R.C. Church, Pahiatua
Folio	07/632
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1907
Officiating Minister	Thos. McKenna

19 February 1907

Frederick George Parkes
Emma Jensen

Frederick George Parkes
Emma Jensen
💍 1907/541

Bachelor
Spinster

Sailor
Domestic Servant

20
22

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

14 years
5 months

Registrar's Office

07/626

Mrs. Parkes, mother

19 February 1907

J. Dias Serall (Registrar)

No	2
Date of Notice	19 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick George Parkes	Emma Jensen
	💍 1907/541
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sailor	Domestic Servant
Age	20	22
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	14 years	5 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	07/626
Consent	Mrs. Parkes, mother
Date of Certificate	19 February 1907
Officiating Minister	J. Dias Serall (Registrar)

25 February 1907

Samuel Jas. Clark
Clara Mary Khristy

Samuel James Clark
Clara Mary Whitta
💍 1907/545

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nil

34
28

Pahiatua
Coonoor

3 days
15 years

07/629

25 February 1907

A. W. Thompson

No	3
Date of Notice	25 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Jas. Clark	Clara Mary Khristy
BDM Match (81%)	Samuel James Clark	Clara Mary Whitta
	💍 1907/545
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nil
Age	34	28
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Coonoor
Length of Residence	3 days	15 years
Marriage Place
Folio	07/629
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1907
Officiating Minister	A. W. Thompson

6 March 1907

James Charles Roderick Reid
Myrtle Norah Wilkinson

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Domestic Servant

24
22

Mangamainoka
Mangamainoka

3 days
3 weeks

Mangamainoka

07/627

6 March 1907

Wm. Woollass

No	4
Date of Notice	6 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Charles Roderick Reid	Myrtle Norah Wilkinson
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Domestic Servant
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Mangamainoka	Mangamainoka
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Mangamainoka
Folio	07/627
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Wm. Woollass

14 March 1907

Harold Ernest Wassa
Bertha Ellen Daysh

Harold Ernest Watts
Bertha Ellen Elizabeth Daysh
💍 1907/1798

Bachelor
Spinster

Creamery Manager
Nil

25
19

Nihau
Mangamairi

7 months
18 years

Anglican Church, Pahiatua

07/1918

John Daysh, father

14 March 1907

A. W. Thompson

No	5
Date of Notice	14 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Ernest Wassa	Bertha Ellen Daysh
BDM Match (74%)	Harold Ernest Watts	Bertha Ellen Elizabeth Daysh
	💍 1907/1798
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Creamery Manager	Nil
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Nihau	Mangamairi
Length of Residence	7 months	18 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Pahiatua
Folio	07/1918
Consent	John Daysh, father
Date of Certificate	14 March 1907
Officiating Minister	A. W. Thompson

25 March 1907

James Varney
Lilly Bernadesse Grant

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor
Nil

36
23

Mangamainoka
Mangamainoka

18 years
12 years

Anglican Church, Pahiatua

07/631

25 March 1907

A. S. Leach

No	6
Date of Notice	25 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Varney	Lilly Bernadesse Grant
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor	Nil
Age	36	23
Dwelling Place	Mangamainoka	Mangamainoka
Length of Residence	18 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Pahiatua
Folio	07/631
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1907
Officiating Minister	A. S. Leach

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).