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 273

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

27 February 1907

Alfred Emanuel Jenks
Frances Olive Pennefather

Alfred Emanuel Jenks
Frances Olive Pennefather
💍 1907/631

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Clerk

23
23

Wanganui
Wanganui

3 years
3 days

Church of England

07/711

27 February 1907

Edgar Ward, Church of England

No	34
Date of Notice	27 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Emanuel Jenks	Frances Olive Pennefather
	💍 1907/631
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Clerk
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	3 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	07/711
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1907
Officiating Minister	Edgar Ward, Church of England

6 March 1907

Francis Alexander Shaw Carlisle
Ethel May Bird

Francis Alexander Shaw Carlisle
Ethel May Bird
💍 1907/632

Widower
Spinster

Sanitary Inspector
Dressmaker

33
22

Wanganui
Wanganui

3 days
9 years

Wesleyan Church

07/720

6 March 1907

J. G. Chapman, Wesleyan

No	35
Date of Notice	6 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Alexander Shaw Carlisle	Ethel May Bird
	💍 1907/632
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Sanitary Inspector	Dressmaker
Age	33	22
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	3 days	9 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church
Folio	07/720
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1907
Officiating Minister	J. G. Chapman, Wesleyan

6 March 1907

Charles Huddell Chavannes
Christina Colquhoun Scott

Charles Huddell Chavannes
Christina Colquhoun Scott
💍 1907/652

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Car Importer

21
20

Wanganui
Castlecliff

12 months
13 years

Presbyterian Church

07/718

William Scott, Father

6 March 1907

A. Morton, Presbyterian

No	36
Date of Notice	6 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Huddell Chavannes	Christina Colquhoun Scott
	💍 1907/652
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Car Importer
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Castlecliff
Length of Residence	12 months	13 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	07/718
Consent	William Scott, Father
Date of Certificate	6 March 1907
Officiating Minister	A. Morton, Presbyterian

8 March 1907

Albert Hayward Brown
Olive Evelyn Brown

Albert Hayward
Olive Evelyn Brown
💍 1907/644

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
19

Wanganui
Wanganui

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office

07/731

Robert Smith Brown, Father

8 March 1907

Chas. E. Hylton, Registrar

No	37
Date of Notice	8 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Hayward Brown	Olive Evelyn Brown
BDM Match (85%)	Albert Hayward	Olive Evelyn Brown
	💍 1907/644
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	19
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	07/731
Consent	Robert Smith Brown, Father
Date of Certificate	8 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Chas. E. Hylton, Registrar

8 March 1907

Stephen Edward Gomez
Jessie Futcher

Stephen Edward Gomez
Jessie Futcher
💍 1907/654

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Dressmaker

25
22

Wanganui
Wanganui

5 years
5 days

Registrar's Office

07/734

8 March 1907

Chas. E. Hylton, Registrar

No	38
Date of Notice	8 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stephen Edward Gomez	Jessie Futcher
	💍 1907/654
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Dressmaker
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	5 years	5 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	07/734
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Chas. E. Hylton, Registrar

9 March 1907

George Brierly
Ethel Agnes Toop

George Briely
Ethel Agnes Toop
💍 1907/633

Bachelor
Spinster

Coach-painter

30
21

Wanganui
Wanganui

3 years
11 years

Wesleyan Church

07/721

9 March 1907

J. G. Chapman, Wesleyan

No	39
Date of Notice	9 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Brierly	Ethel Agnes Toop
BDM Match (96%)	George Briely	Ethel Agnes Toop
	💍 1907/633
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coach-painter
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	3 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church
Folio	07/721
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1907
Officiating Minister	J. G. Chapman, Wesleyan

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).