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 709

District of WAIMANGAROA Quarter ending 31 March 1907 Registrar Henry A. Richards

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

8 January 1907

Leonard Alfred Neighbours
Mary Sowerby

Leonard Alfred Neighbours
Mary Sowerby
💍 1907/1812

Bachelor
Spinster

Brickmaker

25
23

WAIMANGAROA
WAIMANGAROA

12 yrs
23 yrs

Ch of England, Waimangaroa

07/1931

8 January 1907

Rev J.R. Dart, Ch of England

No	1
Date of Notice	8 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Alfred Neighbours	Mary Sowerby
	💍 1907/1812
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brickmaker
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	WAIMANGAROA	WAIMANGAROA
Length of Residence	12 yrs	23 yrs
Marriage Place	Ch of England, Waimangaroa
Folio	07/1931
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev J.R. Dart, Ch of England

19 January 1907

John Thomas Hector McLaughlan
Elizabeth Geordie Mitchell

John McLoughlan
Elizabeth Gourdie Mitchell
💍 1907/972

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

23
20

Burnetts Face
Burnetts Face

5 yrs

At the residence of Margaret A Mitchell, Burnetts Face

07/1059

Margaret A Mitchell, Mother

21 January 1907

Revd T. Francis, Prim Meth Minister

No	2
Date of Notice	19 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Hector McLaughlan	Elizabeth Geordie Mitchell
BDM Match (70%)	John McLoughlan	Elizabeth Gourdie Mitchell
	💍 1907/972
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Burnetts Face	Burnetts Face
Length of Residence	5 yrs
Marriage Place	At the residence of Margaret A Mitchell, Burnetts Face
Folio	07/1059
Consent	Margaret A Mitchell, Mother
Date of Certificate	21 January 1907
Officiating Minister	Revd T. Francis, Prim Meth Minister

4 February 1907

William James Cran
Doris Eva Jane Berry

William James Cran
Doris Eva Jane Berry
💍 1907/1820

Bachelor
Spinster

Doctor

34
18

Denniston
Denniston

2 yrs
5 yrs

Church of England, Miners Hall, Denniston

07/1932

Bertha Louisa Berry, Mother

4 February 1907

Rev J.R. Dart, Ch of England

No	3
Date of Notice	4 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Cran	Doris Eva Jane Berry
	💍 1907/1820
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Doctor
Age	34	18
Dwelling Place	Denniston	Denniston
Length of Residence	2 yrs	5 yrs
Marriage Place	Church of England, Miners Hall, Denniston
Folio	07/1932
Consent	Bertha Louisa Berry, Mother
Date of Certificate	4 February 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev J.R. Dart, Ch of England

24 February 1907

Henry Adolphus Richard
Amy Stead Mason

Henry Adolphus Richards
Amy Stead Mason
💍 1907/1831

Bachelor
Spinster

Postmaster

28
23

Waimangaroa
Waimangaroa

13 yrs
5 yrs

Ch of England, Waimangaroa

07/1933

24 February 1907

Rev J.R. Dart, Ch of England

No	4
Date of Notice	24 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Adolphus Richard	Amy Stead Mason
BDM Match (98%)	Henry Adolphus Richards	Amy Stead Mason
	💍 1907/1831
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postmaster
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Waimangaroa	Waimangaroa
Length of Residence	13 yrs	5 yrs
Marriage Place	Ch of England, Waimangaroa
Folio	07/1933
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev J.R. Dart, Ch of England

4 March 1907

Thomas Rawle
Eva Bauer

Thomas Raule
Eva Bauer
💍 1907/973

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

29
21

Denniston
Denniston

6 months
9 months

Registrar's Office, Waimangaroa

07/1060

4 March 1907

H.A. Richard, Registrar

No	5
Date of Notice	4 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Rawle	Eva Bauer
BDM Match (96%)	Thomas Raule	Eva Bauer
	💍 1907/973
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Denniston	Denniston
Length of Residence	6 months	9 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Waimangaroa
Folio	07/1060
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1907
Officiating Minister	H.A. Richard, Registrar

21 March 1907

Joseph Berryman
Margaret Ann Haining

Joseph Berryman
Margaret Ann Haining
💍 1907/1838

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

24
20

Denniston
Denniston

10 years
1 year

At the Residence of George Berryman, Denniston

07/1934

James Haining, Father

21 March 1907

Rev J.R. Dart, Ch of England

No	6
Date of Notice	21 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Berryman	Margaret Ann Haining
	💍 1907/1838
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Denniston	Denniston
Length of Residence	10 years	1 year
Marriage Place	At the Residence of George Berryman, Denniston
Folio	07/1934
Consent	James Haining, Father
Date of Certificate	21 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev J.R. Dart, Ch of England

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).