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 321

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1907 Registrar G H S 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

15 January 1907

Charles Henry Hill
Isabel Helen Mackenzie

Charles Henry Hill
Isabel Helen MacKenzie
💍 1907/678

Divorced decree absolute 2.9.1901
Spinster

Plumber

48
38

Wellington
Wellington

20 yrs
2 yrs

St James Church Wellington South

07/742

15 January 1907

Rev W. Shirer

No	46
Date of Notice	15 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Hill	Isabel Helen Mackenzie
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Henry Hill	Isabel Helen MacKenzie
	💍 1907/678
Condition	Divorced decree absolute 2.9.1901	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	48	38
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 yrs	2 yrs
Marriage Place	St James Church Wellington South
Folio	07/742
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev W. Shirer

15 January 1907

William Keay Brown
Elizabeth Bennett

William Keay Brown
Elizabeth Bennett
💍 1907/758

Widower
Widow

Contractor

72
60

Upper Hutt
Wellington

14 Yrs
30 Yrs

Residence of Mrs Bennett 80 Elizabeth Street Wellington

07/849

15 January 1907

Rev H.B. Redstone

No	47
Date of Notice	15 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Keay Brown	Elizabeth Bennett
	💍 1907/758
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Contractor
Age	72	60
Dwelling Place	Upper Hutt	Wellington
Length of Residence	14 Yrs	30 Yrs
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Bennett 80 Elizabeth Street Wellington
Folio	07/849
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev H.B. Redstone

16 January 1907

James Gordon
May Emma Callan

James Gordon
May Emma Callan
💍 1907/889

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
19

Wellington
Wellington

23 yrs
19 Yrs

Residence of Mrs McGuire 7 Alfred Street Wellington

07/959

The person within the Colony having authority to consent to marriage

No	48
Date of Notice	16 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Gordon	May Emma Callan
	💍 1907/889
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	23 yrs	19 Yrs
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs McGuire 7 Alfred Street Wellington
Folio	07/959
Consent	The person within the Colony having authority to consent to marriage
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister

16 January 1907

Cecil Constantine Wickoll
Frances Louise Morris

Cecil Constantine Nicholl
Frances Louise Morris
💍 1907/658

Bachelor
Divorced decree absolute 10.10.1905

Blacksmith & Farrier

22
28

Wellington
Wellington

22 Yrs
18 Yrs

Residence of Rev C Porter Goring Street Wellington

07/746

16 January 1907

Rev C Porter

No	49
Date of Notice	16 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Constantine Wickoll	Frances Louise Morris
BDM Match (96%)	Cecil Constantine Nicholl	Frances Louise Morris
	💍 1907/658
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced decree absolute 10.10.1905
Profession	Blacksmith & Farrier
Age	22	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	22 Yrs	18 Yrs
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev C Porter Goring Street Wellington
Folio	07/746
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev C Porter

16 January 1907

Thomas Walter Lyons
Catherine Louisa Gregan

Thomas Walter Lyons
Catherine Louisa Gregan
💍 1907/762

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

30
27

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

St Josephs Church Buckle Street Wellington

07/829

16 January 1907

Rev F. O'Shea

No	50
Date of Notice	16 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Walter Lyons	Catherine Louisa Gregan
	💍 1907/762
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Josephs Church Buckle Street Wellington
Folio	07/829
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev F. O'Shea

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).