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 697

District of Reefton Quarter ending 31 December 1907 Registrar Henry Smith

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

10 October 1907

Frank Hedgman
Ida Emma Pitts

Frank Hedgman
Ida Emma Pitts
💍 1907/6808

Bachelor
Spinster

Sewing Machine Agent
Compositor

24
27

Levin, Wellington
Reefton

3 days
27 years

St. Stephens Anglican Church, Reefton

07/8105

10 October 1907

Rev. H. J. York

No	27
Date of Notice	10 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Hedgman	Ida Emma Pitts
	💍 1907/6808
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sewing Machine Agent	Compositor
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Levin, Wellington	Reefton
Length of Residence	3 days	27 years
Marriage Place	St. Stephens Anglican Church, Reefton
Folio	07/8105
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 October 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. York

15 October 1907

George Ephraim Abraham Hubbard
Grace Ann Lochington

George Ephraim Abraham Hubbard
Grace Ann Vockington
💍 1907/6473

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic Duties

25
27

Daitahu
Daitahu

3 years
16 years

Schoolhouse, Daitahu

07/7235

15 October 1907

Rev. A. Galerne

No	28
Date of Notice	15 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Ephraim Abraham Hubbard	Grace Ann Lochington
BDM Match (95%)	George Ephraim Abraham Hubbard	Grace Ann Vockington
	💍 1907/6473
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic Duties
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Daitahu	Daitahu
Length of Residence	3 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Schoolhouse, Daitahu
Folio	07/7235
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 October 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Galerne

23 October 1907

Henry David Evans
Eva Lillian Lawn

Henry David Evans
Eva Lillian Lawn
💍 1907/6474

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

21
19

Reefton
Black's Point

3 days
16 years

The Residence of James Lawn

07/7237

James Lawn (Father)

23 October 1907

Rev. B. F. Rothwell

No	29
Date of Notice	23 October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry David Evans	Eva Lillian Lawn
	💍 1907/6474
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Black's Point
Length of Residence	3 days	16 years
Marriage Place	The Residence of James Lawn
Folio	07/7237
Consent	James Lawn (Father)
Date of Certificate	23 October 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. F. Rothwell

12 November 1907

Herbert John Buckland
Margaret Daisy Archer

Herbert John Buckland
Margaret Daisy Archer
💍 1907/6809

Bachelor
Spinster

Dredgemaster
Domestic Duties

35
25

Capleston
Capleston

7 years
25 years

Anglican Church, Capleston

07/8106

12 November 1907

Rev. Herbert J. York

No	30
Date of Notice	12 November 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert John Buckland	Margaret Daisy Archer
	💍 1907/6809
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dredgemaster	Domestic Duties
Age	35	25
Dwelling Place	Capleston	Capleston
Length of Residence	7 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Capleston
Folio	07/8106
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 November 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. Herbert J. York

1 November 1907

John Henderson
Charlotte Ann Beighton

John Henderson
Charlotte Ann Beighton
💍 1907/6810

Bachelor
Spinster

Instructor of School of Mines
Milliner

27
27

Reefton
Reefton

5 years
6 months

Church of England

07/8107

22 November 1907

Rev. H. J. York

No	31
Date of Notice	1 November 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henderson	Charlotte Ann Beighton
	💍 1907/6810
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Instructor of School of Mines	Milliner
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Reefton
Length of Residence	5 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	07/8107
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 November 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. York

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).