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 271

District of Wanganui Quarter ending 31 March 1907 Registrar Charles E. Hylton

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

4 February 1907

Percival John Mailman
Ineta Ellen Dwyer

Percival John Mailman
Meta Ellen Dwyer
💍 1907/616

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

23
23

Wanganui
Wanganui

10 years
9 years

Residence of Mr Metgenthin, Bell St

07/704

4 February 1907

Mr J. H. Rix, Church of Christ

No	23
Date of Notice	4 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percival John Mailman	Ineta Ellen Dwyer
BDM Match (94%)	Percival John Mailman	Meta Ellen Dwyer
	💍 1907/616
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	10 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Metgenthin, Bell St
Folio	07/704
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1907
Officiating Minister	Mr J. H. Rix, Church of Christ

5 February 1907

James Paton
Vida Victoria Reid

James Paton
Vida Victoria Reid
💍 1907/640

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer

27
20

Maxwelltown
Wanganui

10 months
1 month

Registrar's Office

07/728

Henry Reid, Father

5 February 1907

Chas. E. Hylton, Registrar

No	24
Date of Notice	5 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Paton	Vida Victoria Reid
	💍 1907/640
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Maxwelltown	Wanganui
Length of Residence	10 months	1 month
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	07/728
Consent	Henry Reid, Father
Date of Certificate	5 February 1907
Officiating Minister	Chas. E. Hylton, Registrar

5 February 1907

John Downer
Harriet Susan Gaylard

John Downer
Harriet Susan Gaylard
💍 1907/653

Widower
Spinster

Contractor
Housekeeper

56
27

Wanganui
Wanganui

30 years
6 years

Residence of Mrs Shaw, Springvale

07/719

5 February 1907

J. G. Chapman, Wesleyan

No	25
Date of Notice	5 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Downer	Harriet Susan Gaylard
	💍 1907/653
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Housekeeper
Age	56	27
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	30 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Shaw, Springvale
Folio	07/719
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1907
Officiating Minister	J. G. Chapman, Wesleyan

8 February 1907

Henry Robinson
Eliza Darbyshire

Henry Robinson
Eliza Darbyshire
💍 1907/641

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

26
24

Kai Iwi
Maxwelltown

4 years
24 years

Registrar's Office

07/729

8 February 1907

Chas. E. Hylton, Registrar

No	26
Date of Notice	8 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Robinson	Eliza Darbyshire
	💍 1907/641
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Kai Iwi	Maxwelltown
Length of Residence	4 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	07/729
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1907
Officiating Minister	Chas. E. Hylton, Registrar

9 February 1907

Patrick Joseph Markham
Maude Cribb

Patrick Joseph Markham
Maude Cribb
💍 1907/1794

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Saleswoman

25
24

Wanganui
Wanganui

14 years
5 years

Catholic Church

07/1890

9 February 1907

M. Grogan, Roman Catholic

No	27
Date of Notice	9 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Joseph Markham	Maude Cribb
	💍 1907/1794
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Saleswoman
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	14 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church
Folio	07/1890
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1907
Officiating Minister	M. Grogan, Roman Catholic

11 February 1907

George Henry Ralph
Laurie Annie Carter

George Henry Relph
Laura Annie Carter
💍 1907/1963

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Domestic Help

29
25

Wanganui
Wanganui

9 years
2 years

Church of England

07/2085

11 February 1907

A. O. Williams, Church of England

No	28
Date of Notice	11 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Ralph	Laurie Annie Carter
BDM Match (92%)	George Henry Relph	Laura Annie Carter
	💍 1907/1963
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Domestic Help
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	9 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	07/2085
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1907
Officiating Minister	A. O. Williams, 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 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).