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 077

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

364

13 April 1908

George Henry Evand
Florence May Jarvis

George Henry Evans
Florence May Jarvis
💍 1908/1970

Bachelor
Spinster

Building Fitter

29
24

Auckland
Auckland

5 years
2 years

House of mother of bride, Eden Terrace

08/2086

13 April 1908

Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

No	364
Date of Notice	13 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Evand	Florence May Jarvis
BDM Match (97%)	George Henry Evans	Florence May Jarvis
	💍 1908/1970
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Building Fitter
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years	2 years
Marriage Place	House of mother of bride, Eden Terrace
Folio	08/2086
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

368

13 April 1908

Ernest Bryce Smith
Eliza Frances Laskey

Ernest Pryce Smith
Eliza Frances Laskey
💍 1908/1841

Bachelor
Spinster

Porter

31
30

Auckland
Auckland

2 weeks
4 days

St. Matthew's Church, Auckland

08/1916

13 April 1908

Rev. W. G. Gillam, Church of England

No	368
Date of Notice	13 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Bryce Smith	Eliza Frances Laskey
BDM Match (97%)	Ernest Pryce Smith	Eliza Frances Laskey
	💍 1908/1841
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Porter
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 weeks	4 days
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Auckland
Folio	08/1916
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Gillam, Church of England

369

13 April 1908

William John Nicholson
Florence Jane Kidd

William John Nicholson
Florence Jane Kidd
💍 1908/4069

Bachelor
Spinster

Customs Agent

27
23

Auckland
Auckland

2 years
23 years

St. Andrew's Church, Epsom

08/2477

13 April 1908

Rev. J. W. Walker, Church of England

No	369
Date of Notice	13 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Nicholson	Florence Jane Kidd
	💍 1908/4069
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Customs Agent
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church, Epsom
Folio	08/2477
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Walker, Church of England

370

14 April 1908

Julius Brache Adolph
Lavinia McKay

Julius Brache Adolph
Lavinia McKay
💍 1908/1869

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
20

Auckland
Auckland

4 days
11 years

St. Mary's Cathedral, Parnell

08/1933

Thomas McKay, father

14 April 1908

Rev. R. B. Budd, Church of England

No	370
Date of Notice	14 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Julius Brache Adolph	Lavinia McKay
	💍 1908/1869
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 days	11 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Cathedral, Parnell
Folio	08/1933
Consent	Thomas McKay, father
Date of Certificate	14 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. B. Budd, Church of England

371

14 April 1908

David Edwin Woollams
Bertha Elizabeth Powell

David Edwin Woollams
Bertha Elizabeth Powell
💍 1908/1849

Widower
Spinster

Chemist

32
30

Auckland
Auckland

27 years
20 years

Epiphany Church, Auckland

08/1937

14 April 1908

Rev. W. G. Lush, Church of England

No	371
Date of Notice	14 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Edwin Woollams	Bertha Elizabeth Powell
	💍 1908/1849
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Chemist
Age	32	30
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	27 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Epiphany Church, Auckland
Folio	08/1937
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Lush, Church of England

372

14 April 1908

James Terence White
Agnes Augusta Irono

James Terence White
Agnes Augusta Irons
💍 1908/3806

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
22

Auckland
Auckland

30 years
22 years

Roman Catholic Church, Otahuhu

08/2033

14 April 1908

Rev. J. Buckley, Roman Catholic

No	372
Date of Notice	14 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Terence White	Agnes Augusta Irono
BDM Match (97%)	James Terence White	Agnes Augusta Irons
	💍 1908/3806
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	30 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Otahuhu
Folio	08/2033
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Buckley, Roman Catholic

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).