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 480

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 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

781

11 October 1907

George Alexander Wattins
Ellen Hephzibah Staples

George Alexander Watkins
Ellen Hephzibah Staples
💍 1907/6432

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

27
28

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
1½ years

Residence of Mr. Finlayson, 15 Clyde Quay

07/6985

11 October 1907

Rev. J. R. Elliott

No	781
Date of Notice	11 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Alexander Wattins	Ellen Hephzibah Staples
BDM Match (98%)	George Alexander Watkins	Ellen Hephzibah Staples
	💍 1907/6432
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	1½ years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Finlayson, 15 Clyde Quay
Folio	07/6985
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 October 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Elliott

782

11 October 1907

William Charles Draper
Maud Hilda Lepper

William Charles Draper
Maud Hild Sepper
💍 1907/6433

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier

25
21

Wellington
Wellington

Life
Life

Residence of Mr. J. Lepper, 40 Hall Street

07/6986

11 October 1907

Rev. J. R. Elliott

No	782
Date of Notice	11 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Charles Draper	Maud Hilda Lepper
BDM Match (94%)	William Charles Draper	Maud Hild Sepper
	💍 1907/6433
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. Lepper, 40 Hall Street
Folio	07/6986
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 October 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Elliott

783

12 October 1907

Edward Walter Dorset
Thomasina Maria Heriot

Edward Walter Dorset
Thomasina Maria Heriot
💍 1907/6418

Widower
Divorced (Decree absolute 5 August 1904)

Dealer

59
44

Kilbirnie
Kilbirnie

12 months
12 months

Residence of Mr. Dorset, Hamilton Road

07/6977

12 October 1907

Rev. W. Shirer

No	783
Date of Notice	12 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Walter Dorset	Thomasina Maria Heriot
	💍 1907/6418
Condition	Widower	Divorced (Decree absolute 5 August 1904)
Profession	Dealer
Age	59	44
Dwelling Place	Kilbirnie	Kilbirnie
Length of Residence	12 months	12 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Dorset, Hamilton Road
Folio	07/6977
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 October 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

784

12 October 1907

John George Hawlins
Margaret Spottiswoode Hogg

John George Hawkins
Margaret Spottiswoode Hogg
💍 1907/7248

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

27
25

Wellington
Wellington

7 days
3 days

Registrar's Office

07/6840

12 October 1907

Registrar

No	784
Date of Notice	12 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John George Hawlins	Margaret Spottiswoode Hogg
BDM Match (97%)	John George Hawkins	Margaret Spottiswoode Hogg
	💍 1907/7248
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	07/6840
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 October 1907
Officiating Minister	Registrar

785

12 October 1907

John Ryan
Margaret Angela Sheehan

John Ryan
Margaret Angela Sheehan
💍 1907/7350

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway employee

29
29

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
8 years

Roman Catholic Basilica, Hill Street

07/7028

12 October 1907

Rev. N. B. Moloney

No	785
Date of Notice	12 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ryan	Margaret Angela Sheehan
	💍 1907/7350
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway employee
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Basilica, Hill Street
Folio	07/7028
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 October 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. N. B. Moloney

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).