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 183

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 31 March 1907

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

20 March 1907

Charles Edward Bacon
Henrietta Irene Eunice Baker

Charles Edward Bacon
Henrietta Irene Eunice Baker
💍 1907/1806

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

36 years
20 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
2 weeks

House of Henrietta Baker, Palmerston North

07/1908

Henrietta Baker, mother

20 March 1907

Rev. Isaac Jolly, Presbyterian Minister, Palmerston North

No	36
Date of Notice	20 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edward Bacon	Henrietta Irene Eunice Baker
	💍 1907/1806
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	36 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	House of Henrietta Baker, Palmerston North
Folio	07/1908
Consent	Henrietta Baker, mother
Date of Certificate	20 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. Isaac Jolly, Presbyterian Minister, Palmerston North

23 March 1907

John Mills
Sarah Jane Deblois

John Mills
Sarah Jane De Blois
💍 1907/2851

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinet Maker

25 years
20 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

8 months
2 years

Office of Registrar, Palmerston North

07/649

James William Deblois, father

23 March 1907

Robert H. Keeling, Registrar, Palmerston North

No	37
Date of Notice	23 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Mills	Sarah Jane Deblois
BDM Match (95%)	John Mills	Sarah Jane De Blois
	💍 1907/2851
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinet Maker
Age	25 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	8 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar, Palmerston North
Folio	07/649
Consent	James William Deblois, father
Date of Certificate	23 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Robert H. Keeling, Registrar, Palmerston North

26 March 1907

Thomas William Brown
Agnes Moffatt

Thomas William Brown
Agnes Moffatt
💍 1907/1813

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26 years
25 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days

St. Andrews Church, Palmerston North

07/1909

26 March 1907

Rev. Isaac Jolly, Presbyterian Minister, Palmerston North

No	38
Date of Notice	26 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas William Brown	Agnes Moffatt
	💍 1907/1813
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church, Palmerston North
Folio	07/1909
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. Isaac Jolly, Presbyterian Minister, Palmerston North

26 March 1907

Herbert Percival Lawry
Bertha Catherine Jansen

Herbert Percival Lawry
Bertha Catherine Jansen
💍 1907/1709

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor

23 years
20 years

Reefton
Palmerston North

7 months
4 years

House of Christian Jansen, Palmerston North

07/1827

Christian Jansen, father

26 March 1907

Rev. Samuel Lawry, Methodist Minister, Christchurch

No	39
Date of Notice	26 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Percival Lawry	Bertha Catherine Jansen
	💍 1907/1709
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor
Age	23 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	7 months	4 years
Marriage Place	House of Christian Jansen, Palmerston North
Folio	07/1827
Consent	Christian Jansen, father
Date of Certificate	26 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. Samuel Lawry, Methodist Minister, Christchurch

27 March 1907

Allan McLean Franklin-Browne
Mary Matilda Boyce

Allan McLean Franklin Browne
Mary Matilda Boyce
💍 1907/1957

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Hand

23 years
22 years

Linton
Linton

2 weeks
4 months

Broad Street Methodist Church, Palmerston North

07/2080

27 March 1907

Rev. J. J. Lewis, Methodist Minister, Palmerston North

No	40
Date of Notice	27 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan McLean Franklin-Browne	Mary Matilda Boyce
BDM Match (98%)	Allan McLean Franklin Browne	Mary Matilda Boyce
	💍 1907/1957
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Hand
Age	23 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Linton	Linton
Length of Residence	2 weeks	4 months
Marriage Place	Broad Street Methodist Church, Palmerston North
Folio	07/2080
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Lewis, Methodist Minister, Palmerston North

27 March 1907

Thomas Brima Carpenter
Elizabeth Douglas

Thomas Bevin Carpenter
Elizabeth Douglas
💍 1907/1814

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

24 years
27 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

4 months
3 days

St. Andrews Church, Palmerston North

07/1910

27 March 1907

Rev. Isaac Jolly, Presbyterian Minister, Palmerston North

No	41
Date of Notice	27 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Brima Carpenter	Elizabeth Douglas
BDM Match (91%)	Thomas Bevin Carpenter	Elizabeth Douglas
	💍 1907/1814
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	24 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	4 months	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church, Palmerston North
Folio	07/1910
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. Isaac Jolly, Presbyterian Minister, Palmerston North

28 March 1907

Ernest Fidler
Minnie Ann Montague Jack

Ernest Fidler
Minnie Ann McJack
💍 1907/576

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Clerk
Domestic Service

25 years
28 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

4 years
4 years

House of F. Downey, Palmerston North

07/637

28 March 1907

Rev. P. C. Costello, Catholic Priest, Palmerston North

No	42
Date of Notice	28 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Fidler	Minnie Ann Montague Jack
BDM Match (83%)	Ernest Fidler	Minnie Ann McJack
	💍 1907/576
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Clerk	Domestic Service
Age	25 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	House of F. Downey, Palmerston North
Folio	07/637
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. C. Costello, Catholic Priest, Palmerston North

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).