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 284

District of Wanganui Quarter ending 30 June 1907 Registrar Chas. E. Hylton

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

11 June 1907

George Henry Marshall
Mary Neilson

George Henry Marshall
Mary Neilson
💍 1907/2911

Bachelor
Spinster

School Teacher
School Teacher

26
26

Wanganui
Eastown

4 yrs
2 yrs

Residence of Mr R. Neilson, Eastown

07/2867

11 June 1907

R. M. Ryburn, Presbyterian

No	93
Date of Notice	11 June 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Marshall	Mary Neilson
	💍 1907/2911
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School Teacher	School Teacher
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Eastown
Length of Residence	4 yrs	2 yrs
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr R. Neilson, Eastown
Folio	07/2867
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 June 1907
Officiating Minister	R. M. Ryburn, Presbyterian

12 June 1907

Henry Harrison Petersen
Adelene Jane Higgie

Henry Petersen Harrison
Adeline Jane Higgie
💍 1907/2913

Bachelor
Spinster

Stock Buyer

35
33

Wanganui
No 2 Line, Wanganui

3 days
33 yrs

Church of England, Matarawa

07/2869

12 June 1907

H. J. Deane, Church of England

No	94
Date of Notice	12 June 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Harrison Petersen	Adelene Jane Higgie
BDM Match (71%)	Henry Petersen Harrison	Adeline Jane Higgie
	💍 1907/2913
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stock Buyer
Age	35	33
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	No 2 Line, Wanganui
Length of Residence	3 days	33 yrs
Marriage Place	Church of England, Matarawa
Folio	07/2869
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 June 1907
Officiating Minister	H. J. Deane, Church of England

13 June 1907

Walter Arthur Earles
Sophia Rebecca Anderson

Walter Arthur Earles
Sophia Rebecca Anderson
💍 1907/2894

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

23
17

Wanganui
Maxwelltown

23 yrs
5 yrs

Residence of Mr H. Earles, St Johns Hill

07/2874

John Anderson, Father

13 June 1907

W. J. Oxbrow, Wesleyan

No	95
Date of Notice	13 June 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Arthur Earles	Sophia Rebecca Anderson
	💍 1907/2894
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	23	17
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Maxwelltown
Length of Residence	23 yrs	5 yrs
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr H. Earles, St Johns Hill
Folio	07/2874
Consent	John Anderson, Father
Date of Certificate	13 June 1907
Officiating Minister	W. J. Oxbrow, Wesleyan

15 June 1907

Sydney Llewelyn Simpson
Lilian Annie Loveridge

Sydney Llewellyn Simpson
Lilian Annie Loveridge
💍 1907/2881

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

21
24

Wanganui
No 1 Line, Wanganui

21 yrs
10 yrs

Residence of Mr. S. Loveridge, No 1 Line, Wanganui

07/2860

15 June 1907

Mr J. H. Rix, Church of Christ

No	96
Date of Notice	15 June 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Llewelyn Simpson	Lilian Annie Loveridge
BDM Match (98%)	Sydney Llewellyn Simpson	Lilian Annie Loveridge
	💍 1907/2881
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	21	24
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	No 1 Line, Wanganui
Length of Residence	21 yrs	10 yrs
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. S. Loveridge, No 1 Line, Wanganui
Folio	07/2860
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 June 1907
Officiating Minister	Mr J. H. Rix, Church of Christ

19 June 1907

Jens Jorgensen
Ellen Walpole

Jens Jorgensen
Ellen Walpole
💍 1907/2905

Widower
Widow

Jailor
Housekeeper

60
51

Wanganui
Wanganui

3 days
7 mos

Registrar's Office, Wanganui

07/2884

19 June 1907

Chas. E. Hylton, Registrar

No	97
Date of Notice	19 June 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jens Jorgensen	Ellen Walpole
	💍 1907/2905
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Jailor	Housekeeper
Age	60	51
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	3 days	7 mos
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wanganui
Folio	07/2884
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 June 1907
Officiating Minister	Chas. E. Hylton, Registrar

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).