Intentions to Marry, 1908 Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840436, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1908 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1908a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1908b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1908c).

Page 028

District of AUCKLAND Quarter ending 31 March 1908 Registrar Humphrey Lyons

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

109

6 February 1908

Frank Edward Rose
Beatrice Elsie Priestley

Frank Edward Rose
Beatrice Elsie Riestley
💍 1908/196

Widower
Spinster

Mercer

30
24

Auckland
Onehunga

4 years
4 years 6 months

Presbyterian Church

08/139

27 February 1908

Rev. D.D. Scott, Presbyterian

No	109
Date of Notice	6 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Edward Rose	Beatrice Elsie Priestley
BDM Match (96%)	Frank Edward Rose	Beatrice Elsie Riestley
	💍 1908/196
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Mercer
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Onehunga
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years 6 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	08/139
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. D.D. Scott, Presbyterian

110

6 February 1908

David William Lawson Middleton
Ada Budd

David William Dawson Middleton
Ada Budd
💍 1908/128

Bachelor
Spinster

Government Messenger

27
21

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
21 years

St. Sepulchre's Church

08/93

27 February 1908

Rev. H. Reeve, Church of England

No	110
Date of Notice	6 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David William Lawson Middleton	Ada Budd
BDM Match (98%)	David William Dawson Middleton	Ada Budd
	💍 1908/128
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Government Messenger
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Sepulchre's Church
Folio	08/93
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Reeve, Church of England

111

6 February 1908

William McKie Bullen
Bessie Bullington

William McGhie Cullen
Bessie Cullington
💍 1908/163

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

34
26

Auckland
Remuera

3 weeks
5 years

St. Mark's Church

08/129

26 February 1908

Rev. W. Beatty, Church of England

No	111
Date of Notice	6 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McKie Bullen	Bessie Bullington
BDM Match (90%)	William McGhie Cullen	Bessie Cullington
	💍 1908/163
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	34	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Remuera
Length of Residence	3 weeks	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church
Folio	08/129
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Beatty, Church of England

112

14 February 1908

John Henry Lock Nicholls
Maud Kerr

John Henry Cock Nicholls
Maud Kerr
💍 1908/57

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

32
24

Auckland
Auckland

3 years
12 years

Registrar's Office

08/17

24 February 1908

Y. Guffan, Deputy Registrar

No	112
Date of Notice	14 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Lock Nicholls	Maud Kerr
BDM Match (98%)	John Henry Cock Nicholls	Maud Kerr
	💍 1908/57
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	08/17
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Y. Guffan, Deputy Registrar

113

14 February 1908

Darcy Ernest Andrews
Elsie Josephine Obuglien

Darcy Ernest Andrews
Elsie Josephine Obuglien
💍 1908/56

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer

25
21

Auckland
Auckland

2 years
10 years

Registrar's Office

08/16

24 February 1908

Y. Guffan, Deputy Registrar

No	113
Date of Notice	14 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Darcy Ernest Andrews	Elsie Josephine Obuglien
	💍 1908/56
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	08/16
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Y. Guffan, Deputy Registrar

114

10 February 1908

James Middleton Taylor
Winifred Ellen McGavin

James Middleton Taylor
Winifred Ellen McGavin
💍 1908/110

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

34
28

Auckland
Mount Eden

3 days
3 weeks

St. Barnabas Church

08/52

27 February 1908

Rev. J. McFarland, Church of England

No	114
Date of Notice	10 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Middleton Taylor	Winifred Ellen McGavin
	💍 1908/110
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	34	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Mount Eden
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Barnabas Church
Folio	08/52
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. McFarland, Church of England

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 1908. 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).