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 605

District of Buller Quarter ending 31 March 1904 Registrar Herbert Logie

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

22 February 1904

Charles Columbus Quarterman
Mary Ann Gibbens

Charles Columbus Quarterman
Mary Ann Gibbens
💍 1907/1809

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

22
21

Westport
Westport

3 days
3 days

In the Church of England, Westport

07/1928

22 February 1904

Rev J R Dart

No	5
Date of Notice	22 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Columbus Quarterman	Mary Ann Gibbens
	💍 1907/1809
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the Church of England, Westport
Folio	07/1928
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev J R Dart

9 March 1904

Henry Clay Franklin
Laura Anderson

Henry Clay Franklin
Laura Anderson
💍 1907/1810

Widower
Spinster

Building Contractor

33
21

Westport
Fonblanque Street, Westport

12 months
21 years

In the residence of Mr R Nicholson

07/1929

9 March 1904

Rev J R Dart

No	6
Date of Notice	9 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Clay Franklin	Laura Anderson
	💍 1907/1810
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Building Contractor
Age	33	21
Dwelling Place	Westport	Fonblanque Street, Westport
Length of Residence	12 months	21 years
Marriage Place	In the residence of Mr R Nicholson
Folio	07/1929
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev J R Dart

21 March 1904

George William Sellars
Alice Annie Hardley

George William Sellars
Alice Annie Hardley
💍 1907/1766

Bachelor
Spinster

Signalman

25
19

Westport
Henley Street, Westport

2 years
19 years

In the residence of Mr G H Hardley

07/1862

George Henry Hardley, Father

21 March 1904

Rev H H Barton

No	7
Date of Notice	21 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Sellars	Alice Annie Hardley
	💍 1907/1766
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Signalman
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Westport	Henley Street, Westport
Length of Residence	2 years	19 years
Marriage Place	In the residence of Mr G H Hardley
Folio	07/1862
Consent	George Henry Hardley, Father
Date of Certificate	21 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev H H Barton

28 March 1904

Albert Simpson
Elsie Robena Youngdal

Albert Simpson
Elsie Robina Youngdal
💍 1907/2008

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

25
23

Westport
The Esplanade, Westport

15 years
16 years

In the residence of Arthur Youngdal

07/2132

28 March 1904

Rev J R Dart

No	8
Date of Notice	28 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Simpson	Elsie Robena Youngdal
BDM Match (98%)	Albert Simpson	Elsie Robina Youngdal
	💍 1907/2008
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Westport	The Esplanade, Westport
Length of Residence	15 years	16 years
Marriage Place	In the residence of Arthur Youngdal
Folio	07/2132
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev J R Dart

30 March 1904

Thomas Robert Bonisch
Norah Teresa Clunan

Thomas Robert Bonisch
Norah Teresa Clunan
💍 1907/2009

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller

28
26

Cape Foulwind
Cape Foulwind

12 months
24 years

In the Roman Catholic Chapel, Cape Foulwind

07/2133

30 March 1904

Rev T Walshe

No	9
Date of Notice	30 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Robert Bonisch	Norah Teresa Clunan
	💍 1907/2009
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Cape Foulwind	Cape Foulwind
Length of Residence	12 months	24 years
Marriage Place	In the Roman Catholic Chapel, Cape Foulwind
Folio	07/2133
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev T Walshe

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).