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 303

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 31 March 1908 Registrar Henry Ewart Hill

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

1890

2 March 1908

Hector Bruce MacAra
Rosina Mary Bruce

Hector Bruce McAra
Rosina Mary Bruce
💍 1908/329

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Domestic Duties

31
28

Wharerata, Poverty Bay
Ormond, Poverty Bay

About 6 months
All life

At the private residence of the mother of the bride, Ormond, Poverty Bay

08/311

2 March 1908

Rev. Edgar Bertiam, Presbyterian Minister

No	1890
Date of Notice	2 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hector Bruce MacAra	Rosina Mary Bruce
BDM Match (97%)	Hector Bruce McAra	Rosina Mary Bruce
	💍 1908/329
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Domestic Duties
Age	31	28
Dwelling Place	Wharerata, Poverty Bay	Ormond, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	About 6 months	All life
Marriage Place	At the private residence of the mother of the bride, Ormond, Poverty Bay
Folio	08/311
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. Edgar Bertiam, Presbyterian Minister

1891

5 March 1908

John Beckett Saylor
Ann Millar

John Beckett Taylor
Ann Millar
💍 1908/365

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Cook

24
21

Patutahi, Poverty Bay
Patutahi

4 years
All life

At the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

08/325

5 March 1908

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	1891
Date of Notice	5 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Beckett Saylor	Ann Millar
BDM Match (97%)	John Beckett Taylor	Ann Millar
	💍 1908/365
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Cook
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Patutahi, Poverty Bay	Patutahi
Length of Residence	4 years	All life
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	08/325
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

1892

16 March 1908

Charles Johnson
Hena Rodgers

Charles Johnson
Lena Rodgers
💍 1908/366

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

31
33

Gisborne, Poverty Bay
Gisborne

About 9 years
About 6 years

At the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

08/326

16 March 1908

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	1892
Date of Notice	16 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Johnson	Hena Rodgers
BDM Match (96%)	Charles Johnson	Lena Rodgers
	💍 1908/366
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	31	33
Dwelling Place	Gisborne, Poverty Bay	Gisborne
Length of Residence	About 9 years	About 6 years
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	08/326
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

1893

16 March 1908

James George Hillee
Margaret Elizabeth Bremner Helliwell

James George Lilley
Margaret Elizabeth Bremner Thelwall
💍 1908/360

Bachelor
Spinster

Architect
Domestic Duties

26
22

Gisborne
Poverty Bay

3 years
All life

At the old Trinity Church, Gisborne

08/343

16 March 1908

Rev. Leslie Dawson Thomas, Church of England

No	1893
Date of Notice	16 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James George Hillee	Margaret Elizabeth Bremner Helliwell
BDM Match (88%)	James George Lilley	Margaret Elizabeth Bremner Thelwall
	💍 1908/360
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Architect	Domestic Duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	3 years	All life
Marriage Place	At the old Trinity Church, Gisborne
Folio	08/343
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. Leslie Dawson Thomas, Church of England

1894

16 March 1908

John Hodgson Aislabie
Elizabeth Mary O'Malley

John Hodgson Aislabie
Elizabeth Mary OMalley
💍 1908/4606

Widower
Spinster

Hotelkeeper
Domestic Duties

57
21

Matawhero, Poverty Bay
Matawhero, Poverty Bay

20 years
3 weeks

At the Royal Oak Hotel, Matawhero, Poverty Bay

08/278

16 March 1908

Rev. J. J. Veignan, Roman Catholic

No	1894
Date of Notice	16 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hodgson Aislabie	Elizabeth Mary O'Malley
BDM Match (98%)	John Hodgson Aislabie	Elizabeth Mary OMalley
	💍 1908/4606
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Hotelkeeper	Domestic Duties
Age	57	21
Dwelling Place	Matawhero, Poverty Bay	Matawhero, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	20 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	At the Royal Oak Hotel, Matawhero, Poverty Bay
Folio	08/278
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Veignan, Roman Catholic

1895

20 March 1908

Victor Harlan Thomson
Muriel Beatrice Wattis

Victor Parlan Thomson
Muriel Beatrice Watkins
💍 1908/328

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Domestic Duties

34
26

Motu, Poverty Bay
Motu, Poverty Bay

14 years
12 months

At the residence of G. B. Thomson, Whakarau, Poverty Bay

08/310

20 March 1908

Rev. E. W. Walker, Presbyterian Minister

No	1895
Date of Notice	20 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Victor Harlan Thomson	Muriel Beatrice Wattis
BDM Match (93%)	Victor Parlan Thomson	Muriel Beatrice Watkins
	💍 1908/328
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Domestic Duties
Age	34	26
Dwelling Place	Motu, Poverty Bay	Motu, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	14 years	12 months
Marriage Place	At the residence of G. B. Thomson, Whakarau, Poverty Bay
Folio	08/310
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. W. Walker, Presbyterian Minister

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).