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 365

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1907 Registrar Gilbert Graham Hodghins

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

261

27 March 1907

Andrew Hill
Muriel Boielle

Andrew Hill
Muriel Boielle
💍 1907/667

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

34
24

Wellington
Wellington

33 years
12 years

Residence of H. Powley, Hirope Street

07/754

27 March 1907

Rev. J. Kennedy Eecott

No	261
Date of Notice	27 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Hill	Muriel Boielle
	💍 1907/667
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	33 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Residence of H. Powley, Hirope Street
Folio	07/754
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Kennedy Eecott

262

26 March 1907

John Walter Cole
Margaret Jane White

John Walker Cole
Margaret Jane White
💍 1907/4602

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

32
30

Wellington
Christchurch

10 months
2½ years

St. Andrews Presbyterian Christchurch Church

07/3944

26 March 1907

Rev. J. McKenzie

No	262
Date of Notice	26 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Walter Cole	Margaret Jane White
BDM Match (97%)	John Walker Cole	Margaret Jane White
	💍 1907/4602
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	32	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 months	2½ years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Presbyterian Christchurch Church
Folio	07/3944
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. McKenzie

263

26 March 1907

Percy John Sherwood
Agnes May Lawrence

Percy John Sherwood
Janet May Lawrence
💍 1907/787

Bachelor
Spinster

Freezing Storeman

23
24

Wellington
Petone

16 years
4 years

Bride's Father's residence, 122 Hutt Road, Petone

07/855

26 March 1907

Rev. J. Paterson

No	263
Date of Notice	26 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy John Sherwood	Agnes May Lawrence
BDM Match (92%)	Percy John Sherwood	Janet May Lawrence
	💍 1907/787
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Freezing Storeman
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Petone
Length of Residence	16 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Bride's Father's residence, 122 Hutt Road, Petone
Folio	07/855
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson

264

27 March 1907

Charles Heber Martin
Alice Brears

Charles Heber Martin
Alice Brears
💍 1907/1758

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

27
25

Petone
Wellington

8 years
5 years

Primitive Methodist Church, Sydney Street, Wellington

07/1877

27 March 1907

Rev. C. E. Ward

No	264
Date of Notice	27 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Heber Martin	Alice Brears
	💍 1907/1758
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Petone	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Sydney Street, Wellington
Folio	07/1877
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. E. Ward

265

27 March 1907

William Richard Stanley Hickson
Mary Clifford Ward

William Richard Stanley Hickson
Mary Clifford Ward
💍 1907/2006

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

30
24

Wellington
Wellington

27 years
23 years

Catholic Church, Bueltle Street, Wellington

07/2130

27 March 1907

Rev. J. O'Shea

No	265
Date of Notice	27 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Richard Stanley Hickson	Mary Clifford Ward
	💍 1907/2006
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	27 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church, Bueltle Street, Wellington
Folio	07/2130
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. O'Shea

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).