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 034

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

145

18 February 1908

Hugo Natanael Mentzer
Grace Marianne Metcalfe

Hugo Natanael Mentzer
Grace Marianne Metcalfe
💍 1908/159

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

26
23

Auckland
Auckland

5 years
10 years

St Matthew's Church, Auckland

08/106

18 February 1908

Rev. W. E. Gillam, Church of England

No	145
Date of Notice	18 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugo Natanael Mentzer	Grace Marianne Metcalfe
	💍 1908/159
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St Matthew's Church, Auckland
Folio	08/106
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Gillam, Church of England

146

18 February 1908

Holbrook Alfred Chatfield
Georgina Denniston

Holbrook Alfred Chatfield
Georgina Denniston
💍 1908/113

Bachelor
Spinster

Dentist

28
24

Auckland
Auckland

23 years
24 years

St Mary's Cathedral, Parnell

08/73

18 February 1908

Rev. J. MacMurray, Church of England

No	146
Date of Notice	18 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Holbrook Alfred Chatfield	Georgina Denniston
	💍 1908/113
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dentist
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	23 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Cathedral, Parnell
Folio	08/73
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. MacMurray, Church of England

147

18 February 1908

Joseph O'Hara
Florence Baverstock

Joseph O'Hare
Florence Baverstock
💍 1908/193

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

30
25

Auckland
Auckland

30 years
25 years

Church of England, East Tamaki

08/136

18 February 1908

Rev. C. D. Boyes, Church of England

No	147
Date of Notice	18 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph O'Hara	Florence Baverstock
BDM Match (96%)	Joseph O'Hare	Florence Baverstock
	💍 1908/193
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	30 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, East Tamaki
Folio	08/136
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. D. Boyes, Church of England

148

18 February 1908

Walter Harold Barnes
Jane Head

Walter Harold Barnes
Jane Head
💍 1908/275

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

30
24

Wellington
Auckland

19 years
17 years

Congregational Church, Mt Eden

08/252

18 February 1908

Rev. W. Day, Congregational Independent

No	148
Date of Notice	18 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Harold Barnes	Jane Head
	💍 1908/275
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Auckland
Length of Residence	19 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Mt Eden
Folio	08/252
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Day, Congregational Independent

149

19 February 1908

Ernest Charles Worth
Nellie Stewart

Ernest Charles Worth
Nellie Stewart
💍 1908/261

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

26
25

Auckland
Auckland

8 months
8 years

House of Rev. C. Walker, Wellington Street

08/236

19 February 1908

Rev. C. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

No	149
Date of Notice	19 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Charles Worth	Nellie Stewart
	💍 1908/261
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	8 months	8 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. C. Walker, Wellington Street
Folio	08/236
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

150

19 February 1908

Harry Raymond Christmas
Elizabeth Caroline Good

Harry Raymond Christmas
Elizabeth Caroline Good
💍 1908/317

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
18

Auckland
Auckland

23 years
18 years

House of father of bride, Collingwood Street, Auckland

08/271

Adolphus Good, father

19 February 1908

Rev. G. Clement, Primitive Methodist

No	150
Date of Notice	19 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Raymond Christmas	Elizabeth Caroline Good
	💍 1908/317
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	23 years	18 years
Marriage Place	House of father of bride, Collingwood Street, Auckland
Folio	08/271
Consent	Adolphus Good, father
Date of Certificate	19 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Clement, Primitive Methodist

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).