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 030

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1908 Registrar Edmund 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

121

11 February 1908

Llewellyn Allan Wood
Ada Mary Ryan

Llewellyn Allan Wood
Ada Mary Ryan
💍 1908/59

Bachelor
Spinster

Barber

22
24

Auckland
Auckland

22 years
22 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

08/119

11 February 1908

T. Bulpan, Deputy Registrar

No	121
Date of Notice	11 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Llewellyn Allan Wood	Ada Mary Ryan
	💍 1908/59
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barber
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	22 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	08/119
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1908
Officiating Minister	T. Bulpan, Deputy Registrar

122

11 February 1908

Alexander Davidson
Josephine Catho Elliot

Alexander Davidson Hawkesby
Josephine Calvo Elliott
💍 1908/219

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

33
30

Auckland
Auckland

7 years
7 years

St. Andrew's Church, Auckland

08/167

11 February 1908

Rev. A. A. Murray, Presbyterian

No	122
Date of Notice	11 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Davidson	Josephine Catho Elliot
BDM Match (77%)	Alexander Davidson Hawkesby	Josephine Calvo Elliott
	💍 1908/219
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	33	30
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church, Auckland
Folio	08/167
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. A. Murray, Presbyterian

123

12 February 1908

Percy Alexander Deery
Lillian Adelaide Florence Keefe

Percy Alexander Deery
Lillian Adelaide Florence Keefe
💍 1908/164

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

32
24

Auckland
Ponsonby

4 days
11 days

All Saints Church

08/130

12 February 1908

Ven. Arch. F. W. Balder, Church of England

No	123
Date of Notice	12 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Alexander Deery	Lillian Adelaide Florence Keefe
	💍 1908/164
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Ponsonby
Length of Residence	4 days	11 days
Marriage Place	All Saints Church
Folio	08/130
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Ven. Arch. F. W. Balder, Church of England

124

12 February 1908

Edgar Young
Winifred Ryan

Edgar Young
Winifred Ryan
💍 1908/5932

Bachelor
Spinster

Pastry Cook

24
28

Auckland
Auckland

4 months
4 months

St. Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland

08/4472

12 February 1908

Rev. W. J. Murphy, Roman Catholic

No	124
Date of Notice	12 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar Young	Winifred Ryan
	💍 1908/5932
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Pastry Cook
Age	24	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 months	4 months
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland
Folio	08/4472
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Murphy, Roman Catholic

125

12 February 1908

Leonard Kinniburgh Waters
Olivea Eda May Hynes

Leonard Kinniburgh Waters
Oliveria Eva May Hynes
💍 1908/3836

Bachelor
Spinster

Letterpress Machinist

24
23

Auckland
Devonport

13 years
13 years

Presbyterian Church

08/168

12 February 1908

Rev. J. R. Bertram, Presbyterian

No	125
Date of Notice	12 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Kinniburgh Waters	Olivea Eda May Hynes
BDM Match (93%)	Leonard Kinniburgh Waters	Oliveria Eva May Hynes
	💍 1908/3836
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Letterpress Machinist
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Devonport
Length of Residence	13 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	08/168
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Bertram, Presbyterian

126

12 February 1908

Fred Howard Jarvis
Elizabeth Jane Patterson

Fred Howard Jarvis
Elizabeth Kathleen Patterson
💍 1908/310

Bachelor
Spinster

Barber

29
25

Auckland
West Street

29 years
29 years

Church of Christ

08/289

12 February 1908

Mr. G. Aldridge, Church of Christ

No	126
Date of Notice	12 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fred Howard Jarvis	Elizabeth Jane Patterson
BDM Match (89%)	Fred Howard Jarvis	Elizabeth Kathleen Patterson
	💍 1908/310
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barber
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	West Street
Length of Residence	29 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ
Folio	08/289
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Mr. G. Aldridge, Church of Christ

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).