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 399

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 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

411

15 May 1907

Thomas Davies
Hannah Howard

Thomas Davies
Hannah Howard
💍 1907/2718

Bachelor
Divorced, Decree absolute 19 April 1904

Laborer

37
43

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
20 years

Registrar's Office

07/2938

15 May 1907

Registrar

No	411
Date of Notice	15 May 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Davies	Hannah Howard
	💍 1907/2718
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced, Decree absolute 19 April 1904
Profession	Laborer
Age	37	43
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	07/2938
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 May 1907
Officiating Minister	Registrar

412

16 May 1907

Daniel Benjamin Tonitins
Maud Frances Morrow

Daniel Benjamin Tonkins
Maud Frances Morrow
💍 1907/2719

Bachelor
Spinster

Cook

24
19

Wellington
Wellington

6 years
6 months

Registrar's Office

07/2939

George Sym Morrow, Father

16 May 1907

Registrar

No	412
Date of Notice	16 May 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Benjamin Tonitins	Maud Frances Morrow
BDM Match (96%)	Daniel Benjamin Tonkins	Maud Frances Morrow
	💍 1907/2719
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cook
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	07/2939
Consent	George Sym Morrow, Father
Date of Certificate	16 May 1907
Officiating Minister	Registrar

413

16 May 1907

Low Ah Leong
Wong Soo Yun

Low Ah Leong
Wong Goo Yun
💍 1907/3085

Bachelor
Spinster

Shopkeeper

32
24

Wellington
Wellington

2 months
1 day

Residence of Sing Ree, Taranaki Street

07/3117

16 May 1907

Rev. J. P. Elliott

No	413
Date of Notice	16 May 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Low Ah Leong	Wong Soo Yun
BDM Match (96%)	Low Ah Leong	Wong Goo Yun
	💍 1907/3085
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shopkeeper
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 months	1 day
Marriage Place	Residence of Sing Ree, Taranaki Street
Folio	07/3117
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 May 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. P. Elliott

414

17 May 1907

Ernest Arthur Spurgin
Annie Joan Smith

Ernest Arthur Spurgin
Annie Joan Smith
💍 1907/3086

Bachelor
Divorced, Decree absolute 29 January 1907

Steward

33
27

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
3 years

Presbyterian Church, Rent Terrace

07/3118

17 May 1907

Rev. J. P. Elliott

No	414
Date of Notice	17 May 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Arthur Spurgin	Annie Joan Smith
	💍 1907/3086
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced, Decree absolute 29 January 1907
Profession	Steward
Age	33	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Rent Terrace
Folio	07/3118
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 May 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. P. Elliott

415

17 May 1907

Alexander Milne
Halley Elizabeth Stuart

Alexander Milne Halley
Elizabeth Stuart
💍 1907/2996

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

23
20

Wellington
Wellington

Life
10 years

St. James Presbyterian Church, South Wellington

07/3028

Elizabeth Stuart, Mother

17 May 1907

Rev. W. Sherer

No	415
Date of Notice	17 May 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Milne	Halley Elizabeth Stuart
BDM Match (69%)	Alexander Milne Halley	Elizabeth Stuart
	💍 1907/2996
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	10 years
Marriage Place	St. James Presbyterian Church, South Wellington
Folio	07/3028
Consent	Elizabeth Stuart, Mother
Date of Certificate	17 May 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Sherer

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).