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 048

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

217

2 March 1908

James Johnston
Alice May English

James Johnston
Alice May English
💍 1908/249

Bachelor
Spinster

Battery hand

29
25

Auckland
Melbourne

3 days
25 years

Methodist Church, Pitt Street

08/222

2 March 1908

Rev. Y. W. Newbold, Methodist

No	217
Date of Notice	2 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Johnston	Alice May English
	💍 1908/249
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Battery hand
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Melbourne
Length of Residence	3 days	25 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Pitt Street
Folio	08/222
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. Y. W. Newbold, Methodist

218

2 March 1908

James Scott Fleming
Ellen Blackwell

James Scott Fleming
Ellen Blackwell
💍 1908/276

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

33
30

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
20 years

Congregational Church, Mt Eden

08/253

2 March 1908

Rev. W. Fay, Independent

No	218
Date of Notice	2 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Scott Fleming	Ellen Blackwell
	💍 1908/276
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	33	30
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Mt Eden
Folio	08/253
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Fay, Independent

219

2 March 1908

Robert Harold Barrett
Edith Mazzoleni

Robert Harold Barrett
Edith Mazzoleni
💍 1908/157

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

21
22

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
22 years

St. Ephany Church, Auckland

08/122

2 March 1908

Rev. W. R. Bush, Church of England

No	219
Date of Notice	2 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Harold Barrett	Edith Mazzoleni
	💍 1908/157
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Ephany Church, Auckland
Folio	08/122
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. R. Bush, Church of England

220

4 March 1908

Robert Arthur Withers
Mary Caroline Grainger
Grainger crossed out, "De note"?

Robert Arthur Withers
Mary Caroline Granger
💍 1908/321

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

34
44

Auckland
Auckland

1½ years
20 years

House of Mr. H. Benn, Onslow Road

08/276

4 March 1908

Rev. Y. H. Lyon, Primitive Methodist

No	220
Date of Notice	4 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Arthur Withers	Mary Caroline Grainger Grainger crossed out, "De note"?
BDM Match (98%)	Robert Arthur Withers	Mary Caroline Granger
	💍 1908/321
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	34	44
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1½ years	20 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. H. Benn, Onslow Road
Folio	08/276
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. Y. H. Lyon, Primitive Methodist

221

2 March 1908

Frederic Conrad Patrick Liddy
Christina Barbara McRae

Frederic Conrad Patrick Fiddy
Christina Barbara McRae
💍 1908/92

Widower
Divorced

Accountant

32
31

Auckland
Auckland

3 years
1 year

Registrar's Office, Auckland

08/28

2 March 1908

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	221
Date of Notice	2 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederic Conrad Patrick Liddy	Christina Barbara McRae
BDM Match (98%)	Frederic Conrad Patrick Fiddy	Christina Barbara McRae
	💍 1908/92
Condition	Widower	Divorced
Profession	Accountant
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	08/28
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1908
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

222

2 March 1908

George Charles Bodlin
Margaret Craig

George Charles Codlin
Margaret Craig
💍 1908/213

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

24
32

Auckland
Ponsonby

24 years
32 years

House of mother of bride, Nine Street, Ponsonby

08/185

2 March 1908

Rev. A. M. Caldwell, Presbyterian

No	222
Date of Notice	2 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Charles Bodlin	Margaret Craig
BDM Match (98%)	George Charles Codlin	Margaret Craig
	💍 1908/213
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	24	32
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Ponsonby
Length of Residence	24 years	32 years
Marriage Place	House of mother of bride, Nine Street, Ponsonby
Folio	08/185
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Caldwell, Presbyterian

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).