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 069

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 June 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

331

2 April 1908

Frank Stephen Fraser
Mary Ellen Brown

Frank Stephen Fraser
Mary Ellen Brown
💍 1908/4645

Divorcee
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

31
30

Auckland
Auckland

6 years
28 years

House of Mr. A. J. Black, Vincent Street

08/314

2 April 1908

A. J. Black, People's City Mission

No	331
Date of Notice	2 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Stephen Fraser	Mary Ellen Brown
	💍 1908/4645
Condition	Divorcee	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	6 years	28 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. A. J. Black, Vincent Street
Folio	08/314
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1908
Officiating Minister	A. J. Black, People's City Mission

332

3 April 1908

Herbert Richard Legg
Mabel Husband

Herbert Richard Legg
Mabel Husband
💍 1908/2027

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

26
29

Auckland
Auckland

4 days
4 months

Baptist Church, Jervois Rd., Ponsonby

08/2127

3 April 1908

Rev. A. North, Baptist

No	332
Date of Notice	3 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Richard Legg	Mabel Husband
	💍 1908/2027
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	26	29
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 days	4 months
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Jervois Rd., Ponsonby
Folio	08/2127
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. North, Baptist

333

3 April 1908

Charles Albert Vaughan
Mary Ellen Day

Charles Albert Vaughan
Mary Ellen Day
💍 1908/1839

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk in Holy Orders

43
34

Auckland
Auckland

4 days
34 years

St. Matthew's Church, Auckland

08/1914

3 April 1908

Rev. W. E. Gillam, Church of England

No	333
Date of Notice	3 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Albert Vaughan	Mary Ellen Day
	💍 1908/1839
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk in Holy Orders
Age	43	34
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 days	34 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Auckland
Folio	08/1914
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Gillam, Church of England

334

3 April 1908

William John Burrows
Rose Ricely Smith

William John Burrows
Rose Cicely Smith
💍 1908/3796

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
21

Auckland
Auckland

13 years
3 days

House of Mr. M. Turner, Murdoch Rd., Grey Lynn

08/2029

3 April 1908

Rev. G. Bond, Methodist

No	334
Date of Notice	3 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Burrows	Rose Ricely Smith
BDM Match (97%)	William John Burrows	Rose Cicely Smith
	💍 1908/3796
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	13 years	3 days
Marriage Place	House of Mr. M. Turner, Murdoch Rd., Grey Lynn
Folio	08/2029
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Bond, Methodist

335

3 April 1908

William Henry Stevenson
Nellie Lampard

William Henry Stevenson
Nellie Lampard
💍 1908/1921

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

28
21

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
4 years

House of Mr. G. B. Purcell, Arch Hill

08/2011

3 April 1908

Rev. D. A. Scott, Presbyterian

No	335
Date of Notice	3 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Stevenson	Nellie Lampard
	💍 1908/1921
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. G. B. Purcell, Arch Hill
Folio	08/2011
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. A. Scott, Presbyterian

336

3 April 1908

John Henry Rowe
Eva Burgess

John Henry Rowe
Eva Burgess
💍 1908/1887

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

25
22

Auckland
Auckland

20 years
22 years

Church of England, Ellerslie

08/1964

3 April 1908

Rev. J. W. Walker, Church of England

No	336
Date of Notice	3 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Rowe	Eva Burgess
	💍 1908/1887
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	20 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Ellerslie
Folio	08/1964
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Walker, 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).