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 319

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 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

12 January 1907

William Henry Cassidy
Agnes Moodie Henderson

William Henry Cassidy
Agnes Moodie Henderson
💍 1907/659

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
17

Wellington
Wellington

11 days
11 days

Residence of Mrs McQueen, 25 Sydney Streets

07/747

Thomas Henderson, Father

12 January 1907

Rev. C. E. Ward

No	36
Date of Notice	12 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Cassidy	Agnes Moodie Henderson
	💍 1907/659
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	17
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	11 days	11 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs McQueen, 25 Sydney Streets
Folio	07/747
Consent	Thomas Henderson, Father
Date of Certificate	12 January 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. E. Ward

12 January 1907

Harold William Thomas
Maude Mary Shutler

Harold William Thomas
Maud Mary Shutter
💍 1907/778

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

26
28

Northland
Kelburne

8 Months
28 years

Residence of Mrs Foley, 56 Elizabeth Street

07/870

12 January 1907

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	37
Date of Notice	12 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold William Thomas	Maude Mary Shutler
BDM Match (94%)	Harold William Thomas	Maud Mary Shutter
	💍 1907/778
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Northland	Kelburne
Length of Residence	8 Months	28 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Foley, 56 Elizabeth Street
Folio	07/870
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

14 January 1907

Alfred Seastrand
Elsie Asserlind

Alfred Seastrand
Elsie Asserland
💍 1907/779

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

28
22

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
22 years

Residence of A. Asserlind, 100 Taranaki Street

07/871

14 January 1907

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	38
Date of Notice	14 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Seastrand	Elsie Asserlind
BDM Match (97%)	Alfred Seastrand	Elsie Asserland
	💍 1907/779
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of A. Asserlind, 100 Taranaki Street
Folio	07/871
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

14 January 1907

William Davis
Elizabeth Rowlands

William Davis
Elizabeth Rowland
💍 1907/810

William Davis
Ellen Margaret Owens
💍 1907/6932

Bachelor
Widow

Contractor

49
40

Wellington
Wellington

27 years
18 years

Registrars Office

07/901

14 January 1907

G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

No	39
Date of Notice	14 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Davis	Elizabeth Rowlands
BDM Match (97%)	William Davis	Elizabeth Rowland
	💍 1907/810
BDM Match (63%)	William Davis	Ellen Margaret Owens
	💍 1907/6932
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Contractor
Age	49	40
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	27 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office
Folio	07/901
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1907
Officiating Minister	G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

14 January 1907

Ernest Miles
Elizabeth Annie McAvoy

Ernest Miles
Elizabeth Annie McAvoy
💍 1907/811

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

20
17

Wellington
Wellington

2 Months
6 years

Registrars Office

07/902

Mr. E. Miles, father of groom; Richard McAvoy, father of bride

14 January 1907

G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

No	40
Date of Notice	14 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Miles	Elizabeth Annie McAvoy
	💍 1907/811
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	20	17
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 Months	6 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office
Folio	07/902
Consent	Mr. E. Miles, father of groom; Richard McAvoy, father of bride
Date of Certificate	14 January 1907
Officiating Minister	G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

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).