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 149

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

456

31 July 1908

John Clarence Mcleay
Emily Muriel Jones

John Clarence McLeay
Emily Muriel Jones
💍 1908/5849

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

25
21

Auckland
Auckland

25 years
12 years

Epiphany Church, Auckland

08/4389

31 July 1908

Rev. W. E. Bush, Church of England

No	456
Date of Notice	31 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Clarence Mcleay	Emily Muriel Jones
BDM Match (98%)	John Clarence McLeay	Emily Muriel Jones
	💍 1908/5849
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	25 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Epiphany Church, Auckland
Folio	08/4389
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Bush, Church of England

457

1 August 1908

Andrew Ernest Carter
Elizabeth Holiday Goldie

Andrew Ernest Carter
Elizabeth Haliday Goldie
💍 1908/5916

Bachelor
Spinster

Master Mariner

32
38

Auckland
Auckland

32 years
38 years

House of E. J. Bell, Northcote

08/4433

1 August 1908

Rev. R. H. Walker, Presbyterian

No	457
Date of Notice	1 August 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Ernest Carter	Elizabeth Holiday Goldie
BDM Match (98%)	Andrew Ernest Carter	Elizabeth Haliday Goldie
	💍 1908/5916
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Master Mariner
Age	32	38
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	32 years	38 years
Marriage Place	House of E. J. Bell, Northcote
Folio	08/4433
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 August 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. H. Walker, Presbyterian

458

1 August 1908

Peter Batistich
Ethel Underwood

Peter Batistich
Ethel Underwood
💍 1908/5809

Bachelor
Spinster

Gum Buyer

26
21

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
4 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

08/4348

1 August 1908

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	458
Date of Notice	1 August 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Batistich	Ethel Underwood
	💍 1908/5809
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gum Buyer
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	08/4348
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 August 1908
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

459

3 August 1908

Henry Hall
Nerlie Hicks

Henry Hall
Verlie Hicks
💍 1908/6016

Bachelor
Spinster

Engraver

20
20

Auckland
Auckland

6 years
4 years

Methodist Church, Kingsland

08/4534

Henry Hall, father; Francis Hicks, father

3 August 1908

Rev. J. A. Luscford, Methodist

No	459
Date of Notice	3 August 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Hall	Nerlie Hicks
BDM Match (96%)	Henry Hall	Verlie Hicks
	💍 1908/6016
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engraver
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	6 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Kingsland
Folio	08/4534
Consent	Henry Hall, father; Francis Hicks, father
Date of Certificate	3 August 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Luscford, Methodist

460

3 August 1908

Sydney James Edkins
Margaret Madill

Sidney James Edkins
Margaret Madill
💍 1908/6015

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

38
32

Auckland
Auckland

5 days
5 days

Methodist Church, Pitt Street

08/4533

3 August 1908

Rev. J. A. Luscford, Methodist

No	460
Date of Notice	3 August 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney James Edkins	Margaret Madill
BDM Match (97%)	Sidney James Edkins	Margaret Madill
	💍 1908/6015
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	38	32
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 days	5 days
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Pitt Street
Folio	08/4533
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 August 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Luscford, Methodist

461

3 August 1908

James Edward Joseph Mangan
Violet May Bowles

James Edward Joseph Mangan
Violet Mary Bowles
💍 1908/5987

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

28
25

Auckland
Auckland

23 years
10 years

St. Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland

08/4504

3 August 1908

Rev. W. Murphy, Roman Catholic

No	461
Date of Notice	3 August 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Edward Joseph Mangan	Violet May Bowles
BDM Match (97%)	James Edward Joseph Mangan	Violet Mary Bowles
	💍 1908/5987
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	23 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland
Folio	08/4504
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 August 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Murphy, Roman Catholic

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).