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 435

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 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

566

17 July 1907

William Thomas Doolan
Karen Cristina Nielsen

William Thomas Doolan
Karen Cristina Nielsen
💍 1907/3726

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

24
27

Wellington
Wellington

3 months
3 days

St. Joseph's Church, Buckle Street

07/5210

17 July 1907

Rev. T. O'Shea

No	566
Date of Notice	17 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Doolan	Karen Cristina Nielsen
	💍 1907/3726
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 months	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Church, Buckle Street
Folio	07/5210
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. O'Shea

567

17 July 1907

George Bruce Carter
Eliza Jane Brown

George Bruce
Eliza Jane Brown
💍 1907/5384

Bachelor
Spinster

21
18

Wellington
Wellington

18 months
Life

Residence of Mr. A. Brown, 7 Main Street

07/5783

Mary Ann Elizabeth Payne (Mother)

17 July 1907

Rev. D. Sherrin

No	567
Date of Notice	17 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Bruce Carter	Eliza Jane Brown
BDM Match (82%)	George Bruce	Eliza Jane Brown
	💍 1907/5384
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 months	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. A. Brown, 7 Main Street
Folio	07/5783
Consent	Mary Ann Elizabeth Payne (Mother)
Date of Certificate	17 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Sherrin

568

18 July 1907

Samuel Herbert Turner
Margaret Catherine Cassidy

Samuel Herbert Turner
Margaret Catherine Cassidy
💍 1907/5522

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinetmaker

22
19

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
6 years

Residence of Mr. J. McQueen, 41 Rintoul Street

07/5329

Alice Holdred (Mother)

18 July 1907

Rev. C. E. Ward

No	568
Date of Notice	18 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Herbert Turner	Margaret Catherine Cassidy
	💍 1907/5522
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinetmaker
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. McQueen, 41 Rintoul Street
Folio	07/5329
Consent	Alice Holdred (Mother)
Date of Certificate	18 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. E. Ward

569

18 July 1907

Harry Allen
Kate Ann Swingler

Harry Allen
Kate Ann Swingler
💍 1907/5422

Bachelor
Spinster

Boot & Shoe Operative

31
32

Wellington
Wellington

17 months
2 days

Primitive Methodist Church, Webb Street

07/5246

18 July 1907

Rev. J. Dawson

No	569
Date of Notice	18 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Allen	Kate Ann Swingler
	💍 1907/5422
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boot & Shoe Operative
Age	31	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	17 months	2 days
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Webb Street
Folio	07/5246
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Dawson

570

19 July 1907

Henry Charles Clarke Wright
Elizabeth Henrietta Hughes-Hallell

Henry Charles Clarke Wright
Elizabeth Henrietta Hughes-Hallett
💍 1907/2813

Widower
Spinster

Company Manager

63
46

Wellington
Wellington

30 years
7 years

Registrar's Office

07/5082

19 July 1907

Registrar

No	570
Date of Notice	19 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Charles Clarke Wright	Elizabeth Henrietta Hughes-Hallell
BDM Match (97%)	Henry Charles Clarke Wright	Elizabeth Henrietta Hughes-Hallett
	💍 1907/2813
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Company Manager
Age	63	46
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	30 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	07/5082
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Registrar

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).