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 284

District of Dargaville Quarter ending 30 June 1908 Registrar J. Thay

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

4 April 1908

Ray Athalston Lowe
Ruby Catherine Finlayson

Roy Whalston Lowa
Ruby Catherine Finlayson
💍 1908/2051

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill Hand
Domestic duties

21
21

Aoroa
Manyawhare

7 years
3 years

Private Residence, Mrs J. Finlayson, Dargaville

08/2169

4 April 1908

Rev G. Wanshone, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	4 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ray Athalston Lowe	Ruby Catherine Finlayson
BDM Match (89%)	Roy Whalston Lowa	Ruby Catherine Finlayson
	💍 1908/2051
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill Hand	Domestic duties
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Aoroa	Manyawhare
Length of Residence	7 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Private Residence, Mrs J. Finlayson, Dargaville
Folio	08/2169
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev G. Wanshone, Presbyterian

18 April 1908

Samuel Howard Pierce
Marion Lucy Davy

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Domestic duties

46
25

Dargaville
Dargaville

10 years
25 years

Residence of Brides Parents, Dargaville

08/2140

18 April 1908

Rev W. Wills, Wesleyan

No	7
Date of Notice	18 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Howard Pierce	Marion Lucy Davy
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Domestic duties
Age	46	25
Dwelling Place	Dargaville	Dargaville
Length of Residence	10 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Brides Parents, Dargaville
Folio	08/2140
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev W. Wills, Wesleyan

11 May 1908

Henry Mills
Violet May Collins

Henry Mills
Violet May Collins
💍 1908/23

Bachelor
Spinster

Timber worker
Domestic duties

29
20

Aoroa
Aoroa

4 days
6 months

Residence of Brides Parents, Aoroa

08/2172

Martin Collins, Father

11 May 1908

Rev W. Wills, Wesleyan

No	8
Date of Notice	11 May 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Mills	Violet May Collins
	💍 1908/23
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Timber worker	Domestic duties
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Aoroa	Aoroa
Length of Residence	4 days	6 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Brides Parents, Aoroa
Folio	08/2172
Consent	Martin Collins, Father
Date of Certificate	11 May 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev W. Wills, Wesleyan

13 May 1908

William Richard Owen Cocklington
Sarah Russell

William Richard Owen Pocklington
Sarah Russell
💍 1908/2054

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

26
19

Aoroa
Aoroa

2 years
4 years

Residence of W.R.O. Cocklington, Aoroa

08/2171

William Waters, Guardian

13 May 1908

Rev W. Wills, Wesleyan

No	9
Date of Notice	13 May 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Richard Owen Cocklington	Sarah Russell
BDM Match (98%)	William Richard Owen Pocklington	Sarah Russell
	💍 1908/2054
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Aoroa	Aoroa
Length of Residence	2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of W.R.O. Cocklington, Aoroa
Folio	08/2171
Consent	William Waters, Guardian
Date of Certificate	13 May 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev W. Wills, Wesleyan

6 June 1908

Norman Neale
Rebecca Brown

Norman Meale
Rebecca Brown
💍 1908/2049

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic duties

21
21

Kaihu
Kaihu

1 year
2 years

Registrar's Office, Dargaville

08/2167

6 June 1908

J. Kay, Registrar

No	10
Date of Notice	6 June 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Neale	Rebecca Brown
BDM Match (96%)	Norman Meale	Rebecca Brown
	💍 1908/2049
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic duties
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Kaihu	Kaihu
Length of Residence	1 year	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Dargaville
Folio	08/2167
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 June 1908
Officiating Minister	J. Kay, Registrar

13 June 1908

John Thomas McDermott
Ellen Mary Heffran

John Thomas McDermott
Ellen Mary Huffran
💍 1908/2048

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

23
20

Onetea
Onetea

10 years
10 years

Public School, Onetea

08/2166

Mark Heffran, Father

13 June 1908

Rev W. Westeinde, Catholic Priest

No	11
Date of Notice	13 June 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas McDermott	Ellen Mary Heffran
BDM Match (97%)	John Thomas McDermott	Ellen Mary Huffran
	💍 1908/2048
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Onetea	Onetea
Length of Residence	10 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Public School, Onetea
Folio	08/2166
Consent	Mark Heffran, Father
Date of Certificate	13 June 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev W. Westeinde, Catholic Priest

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).