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 540

District of Kaikoura Quarter ending 30 September 1907 Registrar John White

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

275

2 July 1907

George Thomas Poole
Maria Gertrude Lawson

George Thomas Poole
Maria Gertrude Lawson
💍 1907/5504

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

31
19

Kaikoura
Kaikoura

31 years
19 years

English Church Kohai Kaikoura

07/5335

Edward George Pley Lawson Father

2 July 1907

Rev Hy Braddock

No	275
Date of Notice	2 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Thomas Poole	Maria Gertrude Lawson
	💍 1907/5504
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	31	19
Dwelling Place	Kaikoura	Kaikoura
Length of Residence	31 years	19 years
Marriage Place	English Church Kohai Kaikoura
Folio	07/5335
Consent	Edward George Pley Lawson Father
Date of Certificate	2 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev Hy Braddock

276

16 July 1907

Frank Willis
Alice Ethel Parsons

Frank Willis
Alice Ethel Parsons
💍 1907/5505

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

30
33

Blenheim
Kaikoura

3 days
33 years

Residence of Er Parsons Kaikoura

07/5336

16 July 1907

Rev H Braddock

No	276
Date of Notice	16 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Willis	Alice Ethel Parsons
	💍 1907/5505
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	33
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Kaikoura
Length of Residence	3 days	33 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Er Parsons Kaikoura
Folio	07/5336
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev H Braddock

277

22 July 1907

Islay Ivan McGregor
Annie Alice Mary Barratt

Islay Ivan McGregor
Annie Mary Barratt
💍 1907/5503

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer
Domestic duties

31
26

Kaikoura
Kaikoura

10 years
26 years

Presbyterian Church Kaikoura

07/5334

22 July 1907

Rev Wm McAra

No	277
Date of Notice	22 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Islay Ivan McGregor	Annie Alice Mary Barratt
BDM Match (88%)	Islay Ivan McGregor	Annie Mary Barratt
	💍 1907/5503
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Kaikoura	Kaikoura
Length of Residence	10 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Kaikoura
Folio	07/5334
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev Wm McAra

278

1 August 1907

John Andrew Monk
Margaret Elizabeth Mary Lunn

John Andrew Monk
Margaret Elizabeth May Lunn
💍 1907/5507

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

30
18

Conway Flat
Conway Flat

30 years
18 months

William Monks residence Royal Oak Conway

07/5338

John Lunn Father

7 August 1907

Rev Wm Watt

No	278
Date of Notice	1 August 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Andrew Monk	Margaret Elizabeth Mary Lunn
BDM Match (98%)	John Andrew Monk	Margaret Elizabeth May Lunn
	💍 1907/5507
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	18
Dwelling Place	Conway Flat	Conway Flat
Length of Residence	30 years	18 months
Marriage Place	William Monks residence Royal Oak Conway
Folio	07/5338
Consent	John Lunn Father
Date of Certificate	7 August 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev Wm Watt

279

12 August 1907

William George Smith
Mary Harnett

William George Smith
Mary Barnett
💍 1907/5928

William Inor Smith
May Kinzett
💍 1908/646

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

23
19

Kaikoura
Kaikoura

23 years
19 years

Residence of John Harnett Kaikoura

07/5985

John Harnett Father

12 August 1907

Rev John Golden

No	279
Date of Notice	12 August 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Smith	Mary Harnett
BDM Match (96%)	William George Smith	Mary Barnett
	💍 1907/5928
BDM Match (69%)	William Inor Smith	May Kinzett
	💍 1908/646
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Kaikoura	Kaikoura
Length of Residence	23 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John Harnett Kaikoura
Folio	07/5985
Consent	John Harnett Father
Date of Certificate	12 August 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev John Golden

280

6 September 1907

Charles Diderick Barker
Esther Maud Mary Horner

Charles DKierski Carter
Ethel Maud Mary Horner
💍 1907/5506

Bachelor
Spinster

Building Contractor
Domestic Duties

25
25

Kaikoura
Kaikoura

25 years
5 years

St Peters Church of England Kaikoura

07/5337

6 September 1907

Rev Henry Braddock

No	280
Date of Notice	6 September 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Diderick Barker	Esther Maud Mary Horner
BDM Match (80%)	Charles DKierski Carter	Ethel Maud Mary Horner
	💍 1907/5506
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Building Contractor	Domestic Duties
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Kaikoura	Kaikoura
Length of Residence	25 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St Peters Church of England Kaikoura
Folio	07/5337
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 September 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev Henry Braddock

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).