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 742

District of Hokitika Quarter ending 31 March 1907 Registrar J Douglas St George

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

2 January 1907

Thomas Vincent Dale
Linda Hambley

Thomas Vincent
Linda Hambley Dale
💍 1907/1018

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic

24
19

Hokitika
Hokitika

3 years
19 years

House of Charlotte Hambley Dale, Hokitika

07/1090

Charlotte Hambley Dale, mother

2 January 1907

W J Elliott, Wesleyan

No	1
Date of Notice	2 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Vincent Dale	Linda Hambley
BDM Match (73%)	Thomas Vincent	Linda Hambley Dale
	💍 1907/1018
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	3 years	19 years
Marriage Place	House of Charlotte Hambley Dale, Hokitika
Folio	07/1090
Consent	Charlotte Hambley Dale, mother
Date of Certificate	2 January 1907
Officiating Minister	W J Elliott, Wesleyan

1 February 1907

Charles Brocklebank
Louisa Reidy

Charles Brockelbank
Louisa Reidy
💍 1907/1021

Bachelor
Spinster

Fellmonger
Schoolteacher

22
18

Hokitika
Callaghans

3 days
18 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Hokitika

07/1093

Mary Riddington, Guardian

1 February 1907

J D George, Registrar

No	2
Date of Notice	1 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Brocklebank	Louisa Reidy
BDM Match (95%)	Charles Brockelbank	Louisa Reidy
	💍 1907/1021
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fellmonger	Schoolteacher
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Callaghans
Length of Residence	3 days	18 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Hokitika
Folio	07/1093
Consent	Mary Riddington, Guardian
Date of Certificate	1 February 1907
Officiating Minister	J D George, Registrar

4 February 1907

Herbert Arthur Boddington
Christina Houliston

Herbert Arthur Boddington
Christina Houliston
💍 1907/1017

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic

31
22

Koikatahi
Koikatahi

18 months
3 years

Presbyterian Church, Koikatahi

07/1089

4 February 1907

R H G McDowall, Presbyterian

No	3
Date of Notice	4 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Arthur Boddington	Christina Houliston
	💍 1907/1017
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Koikatahi	Koikatahi
Length of Residence	18 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Koikatahi
Folio	07/1089
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1907
Officiating Minister	R H G McDowall, Presbyterian

9 February 1907

George Larkin
Elizabeth Stapley

George Lakin
Elizabeth Stapley
💍 1907/1020

Widower
Widow

Gardener
Housekeeper

78
64

Hokitika
Hokitika

24 years
42 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Hokitika

07/1092

9 February 1907

J D George, Registrar

No	4
Date of Notice	9 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Larkin	Elizabeth Stapley
BDM Match (96%)	George Lakin	Elizabeth Stapley
	💍 1907/1020
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Gardener	Housekeeper
Age	78	64
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	24 years	42 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Hokitika
Folio	07/1092
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1907
Officiating Minister	J D George, Registrar

12 February 1907

John Robinson Leypold
Phoebe Amberges

John Robinson
Lenora Phoebe Amberger
💍 1907/1019

Bachelor
Spinster

Cordial Manufacturer
Domestic

26
20

Hokitika
Koterangi

4 years
20 years

In the house of Philip Amberges, Koterangi

07/1091

12 February 1907

W J Elliott, Wesleyan

No	5
Date of Notice	12 February 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Robinson Leypold	Phoebe Amberges
BDM Match (63%)	John Robinson	Lenora Phoebe Amberger
	💍 1907/1019
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cordial Manufacturer	Domestic
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Koterangi
Length of Residence	4 years	20 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Philip Amberges, Koterangi
Folio	07/1091
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1907
Officiating Minister	W J Elliott, Wesleyan

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).