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 143

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 September 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

420

23 July 1908

Stephen Shalfoon
Margaret Katherine Baggstrom

Stephen Shalfoon
Margaret Catherine Baggstrum
💍 1908/2729

Bachelor
Spinster

Store keeper

28
18

Auckland
Auckland

7 days
13 years

St. John's Church, Parnell

08/7469

Eliza S. Baggstrom, Mother

23 July 1908

Rev. J. P. Kehoe, Roman Catholic

No	420
Date of Notice	23 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stephen Shalfoon	Margaret Katherine Baggstrom
BDM Match (96%)	Stephen Shalfoon	Margaret Catherine Baggstrum
	💍 1908/2729
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Store keeper
Age	28	18
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	7 days	13 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Parnell
Folio	08/7469
Consent	Eliza S. Baggstrom, Mother
Date of Certificate	23 July 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. P. Kehoe, Roman Catholic

421

23 July 1908

Robert Dick
Margaret Glover Pye

Robert Dick
Margaret Glover Pye
💍 1908/5905

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

38
24

Auckland
Auckland

38 years
24 years

St. Andrew's Church, Auckland

08/4428

23 July 1908

Rev. A. A. Murray, Presbyterian

No	421
Date of Notice	23 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Dick	Margaret Glover Pye
	💍 1908/5905
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	38	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	38 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church, Auckland
Folio	08/4428
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. A. Murray, Presbyterian

422

23 July 1908

James McMurtrie
Catharine Ashley

James McMurtrie
Catherine Astley
💍 1908/5912

Widower
Spinster

Pottery worker

41
43

Drury
Auckland

3 years
11 years

House of W. Wesley Shragg, Drury

08/4429

23 July 1908

Rev. A. Maclean, Presbyterian

No	422
Date of Notice	23 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James McMurtrie	Catharine Ashley
BDM Match (94%)	James McMurtrie	Catherine Astley
	💍 1908/5912
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Pottery worker
Age	41	43
Dwelling Place	Drury	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	11 years
Marriage Place	House of W. Wesley Shragg, Drury
Folio	08/4429
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Maclean, Presbyterian

423

24 July 1908

Thomas William Hewitt
Margaret Elizabeth Williams

Thomas William Hewitt
Margaret Elizabeth Williams
💍 1908/6020

Widower
Spinster

Carrier

36
32

Auckland
Auckland

18 years
15 years

Salvation Army Barracks, Albert Street

08/4562

24 July 1908

Adjutant G. A. Gunn, Salvation Army

No	423
Date of Notice	24 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas William Hewitt	Margaret Elizabeth Williams
	💍 1908/6020
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Carrier
Age	36	32
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	18 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Barracks, Albert Street
Folio	08/4562
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1908
Officiating Minister	Adjutant G. A. Gunn, Salvation Army

424

24 July 1908

William Baptist Fowles
Eliza Jean Meikle

William Baptist Fowler
Eliza Jean Meikle
💍 1908/5914

Widower
Widow

Importer

37
53

Auckland
Auckland

8 years
4 years

St. James Church, Auckland

08/4430

24 July 1908

Rev. R. H. Walker, Presbyterian

No	424
Date of Notice	24 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Baptist Fowles	Eliza Jean Meikle
BDM Match (98%)	William Baptist Fowler	Eliza Jean Meikle
	💍 1908/5914
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Importer
Age	37	53
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	8 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. James Church, Auckland
Folio	08/4430
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. H. Walker, Presbyterian

425

24 July 1908

Thomas Tonk
Harriet May Hudson

Thomas York
Harriet May Hudson
💍 1908/5915

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

21
24

Auckland
Auckland

5 months
5 years

St. James Manse, Auckland

08/4432

24 July 1908

Rev. R. H. Walker, Presbyterian

No	425
Date of Notice	24 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Tonk	Harriet May Hudson
BDM Match (91%)	Thomas York	Harriet May Hudson
	💍 1908/5915
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	21	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 months	5 years
Marriage Place	St. James Manse, Auckland
Folio	08/4432
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. H. Walker, Presbyterian

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).