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 509

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1907 Registrar G. G. Hodgkins

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

926

29 November 1907

Joseph Mark Pike
Agnes Milne Johnston

Joseph Mark Pike
Agnes Milne Johnston
💍 1907/7369

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

30
26

Wellington
Wellington

7 years
9 months

Residence of Rev. H. B. Hedstone, "Redgrove", Hawker Street

07/7070

29 November 1907

Rev. H. B. Hedstone

No	926
Date of Notice	29 November 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Mark Pike	Agnes Milne Johnston
	💍 1907/7369
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 years	9 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. H. B. Hedstone, "Redgrove", Hawker Street
Folio	07/7070
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 November 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. B. Hedstone

927

2 December 1907

William Hockenbull Sadler
Martha Jane Hedrope

William Hockenhull Sadler
Martha Jane Redrope
💍 1907/7381

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
28

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
1 day

Primitive Methodist Church, Donald McLean Street

07/7083

2 December 1907

Rev. J. Coalter

No	927
Date of Notice	2 December 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hockenbull Sadler	Martha Jane Hedrope
BDM Match (95%)	William Hockenhull Sadler	Martha Jane Redrope
	💍 1907/7381
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	1 day
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Donald McLean Street
Folio	07/7083
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 December 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Coalter

928

2 December 1907

Francis Joseph Karam
Nazha Brooky

Francis Joseph Karam
Nagha Brookey
💍 1907/7374

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper

24
18

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
14 years

St. Mary's Church, Boulcott Street

07/7052

John Brooky (Father)

2 December 1907

Rev. T. Dahdah

No	928
Date of Notice	2 December 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Joseph Karam	Nazha Brooky
BDM Match (92%)	Francis Joseph Karam	Nagha Brookey
	💍 1907/7374
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	14 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Boulcott Street
Folio	07/7052
Consent	John Brooky (Father)
Date of Certificate	2 December 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Dahdah

929

2 December 1907

Sidney Mitchell Barnes
Mary Elizabeth White

Sydney Mitchell Barnes
Mary Elizabeth White
💍 1907/7358

Bachelor
Spinster

Aeronaut

28
24

Wellington
Wellington

3 weeks
10 months

Wesley Church, Taranaki Street

07/7060

2 December 1907

Rev. T. W. Fairclough

No	929
Date of Notice	2 December 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney Mitchell Barnes	Mary Elizabeth White
BDM Match (98%)	Sydney Mitchell Barnes	Mary Elizabeth White
	💍 1907/7358
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Aeronaut
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 weeks	10 months
Marriage Place	Wesley Church, Taranaki Street
Folio	07/7060
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 December 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. W. Fairclough

930

2 December 1907

Arthur James Willett Colwell
Florence Buckworth

Arthur James Willett Cottrel
Florence Buckworth
💍 1907/7301

Bachelor
Spinster

Lodging House Keeper

28
27

Wellington
Wellington

3 weeks
1 week

St. Mark's Church, Sussex Square

07/6918

2 December 1907

Rev. J. G. S. Barttell

No	930
Date of Notice	2 December 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur James Willett Colwell	Florence Buckworth
BDM Match (93%)	Arthur James Willett Cottrel	Florence Buckworth
	💍 1907/7301
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Lodging House Keeper
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 weeks	1 week
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church, Sussex Square
Folio	07/6918
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 December 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. S. Barttell

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).