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 055

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

253

12 March 1908

Cornelius Kay
Sarah Jane Butterworth

Cornelius Day
Sarah Jane Butterworth
💍 1908/192

Widower
Spinster

Farmer

70
37

Tamahere
Auckland

30 years
37 years

All Saint's Church Ponsonby

08/135

12 March 1908

Rev. Arch W. Balder Church of England

No	253
Date of Notice	12 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cornelius Kay	Sarah Jane Butterworth
BDM Match (96%)	Cornelius Day	Sarah Jane Butterworth
	💍 1908/192
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	70	37
Dwelling Place	Tamahere	Auckland
Length of Residence	30 years	37 years
Marriage Place	All Saint's Church Ponsonby
Folio	08/135
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. Arch W. Balder Church of England

254

13 March 1908

Harold Clive Hulme
Florence Sarah Matthews

Harold Clive Hulme
Florence Sarah Matthews
💍 1908/149

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

26
27

Auckland
Auckland

10 years
20 years

St Matthew's Church Auckland

08/114

13 March 1908

Rev. W. E. Gillam Church of England

No	254
Date of Notice	13 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Clive Hulme	Florence Sarah Matthews
	💍 1908/149
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St Matthew's Church Auckland
Folio	08/114
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Gillam Church of England

255

13 March 1908

George Trythall Laity
Fanny Comely Marted

George Trythall Laity
Fanny Emily Marter
💍 1908/78

Bachelor
Divorcee

Millhand

24
42

Auckland
Auckland

24 years
41 years

Registrar's Office Auckland

08/38

13 March 1908

E. H. Lyons Registrar

No	255
Date of Notice	13 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Trythall Laity	Fanny Comely Marted
BDM Match (89%)	George Trythall Laity	Fanny Emily Marter
	💍 1908/78
Condition	Bachelor	Divorcee
Profession	Millhand
Age	24	42
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	24 years	41 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Auckland
Folio	08/38
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1908
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons Registrar

256

14 March 1908

William Hammond
Jessie Henwood

William Hammond
Jessie Henwood
💍 1908/77

Widower
Widow

Farmer

76
58

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
3 days

Registrar's Office Auckland

08/37

14 March 1908

E. H. Lyons Registrar

No	256
Date of Notice	14 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hammond	Jessie Henwood
	💍 1908/77
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Farmer
Age	76	58
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Auckland
Folio	08/37
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1908
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons Registrar

257

14 March 1908

Roger Elkanah Corban
Nancy Zahear Ellias Corban

Roger Mlham Corban
Zahear Ellias Corban
💍 1908/76

Bachelor
Spinster

Goods Dealer

26
22

Auckland
Auckland

9 years
2 months

Registrar's Office Auckland

08/36

14 March 1908

E. H. Lyons Registrar

No	257
Date of Notice	14 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roger Elkanah Corban	Nancy Zahear Ellias Corban
BDM Match (76%)	Roger Mlham Corban	Zahear Ellias Corban
	💍 1908/76
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Goods Dealer
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	9 years	2 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Auckland
Folio	08/36
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1908
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons Registrar

258

14 March 1908

Rayner Barrington Smythe
Annie Philippa Niccol

Rayner Barrington Smythe
Annie Philippa Nicol
💍 1908/123

Bachelor
Spinster

Lieutenant R.N.Z.A.

27
24

Auckland
Auckland

2 years
24 years

Church of England Devonport

08/60

14 March 1908

Rev. J. R. Evershed Church of England

No	258
Date of Notice	14 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rayner Barrington Smythe	Annie Philippa Niccol
BDM Match (98%)	Rayner Barrington Smythe	Annie Philippa Nicol
	💍 1908/123
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Lieutenant R.N.Z.A.
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Devonport
Folio	08/60
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Evershed 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).