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 337

District of Hamilton Quarter ending 31 March 1908 Registrar James Shiner Bond

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

6 January 1908

James George Gallagher
Mary Louisa Blow

James George Gallagher
Mary Louisa Clow
💍 1908/394

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Home duties

27
18

Te Kowhai
Te Kowhai

3.5 years
5 years

Horotiu Public School

08/355

William Blow, father

6 January 1908

Rev. H. W. Radcliffe

No	1
Date of Notice	6 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James George Gallagher	Mary Louisa Blow
BDM Match (97%)	James George Gallagher	Mary Louisa Clow
	💍 1908/394
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Home duties
Age	27	18
Dwelling Place	Te Kowhai	Te Kowhai
Length of Residence	3.5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Horotiu Public School
Folio	08/355
Consent	William Blow, father
Date of Certificate	6 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. Radcliffe

9 January 1908

Frank Thompson
Caroline White

Frank Thompson
Caroline White
💍 1908/388

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler
School teacher

44
31

Taupiri
Woodlands

9 months
11 months

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Hamilton

08/348

9 January 1908

Deputy Registrar of Marriages, Hamilton

No	2
Date of Notice	9 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Thompson	Caroline White
	💍 1908/388
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler	School teacher
Age	44	31
Dwelling Place	Taupiri	Woodlands
Length of Residence	9 months	11 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Hamilton
Folio	08/348
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar of Marriages, Hamilton

20 January 1908

Charles George Caldwell Ramsay
Elizabeth Kate Bridgman

Charles George Caldwell Ramsey
Elizabeth Kate Bridgman
💍 1908/377

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Home duties

33
29

Tauwhare
Tauwhare

15 years
10 years

At house of W. H. Bridgman, Scotchman's Valley, Tauwhare

08/362

20 January 1908

Rev. William Henry Beck

No	3
Date of Notice	20 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles George Caldwell Ramsay	Elizabeth Kate Bridgman
BDM Match (98%)	Charles George Caldwell Ramsey	Elizabeth Kate Bridgman
	💍 1908/377
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Home duties
Age	33	29
Dwelling Place	Tauwhare	Tauwhare
Length of Residence	15 years	10 years
Marriage Place	At house of W. H. Bridgman, Scotchman's Valley, Tauwhare
Folio	08/362
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Henry Beck

23 January 1908

Edward Gamble Rothwell
Mary Lillian Layson

Edward Gamble Rothwell
Mary Lillian Laxon
💍 1908/371

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Home duties

37
22

Whatawhata
Whatawhata

30 years
4 years

Church of England, Whatawhata

08/356

23 January 1908

Rev. R. A. Macdonald

No	4
Date of Notice	23 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Gamble Rothwell	Mary Lillian Layson
BDM Match (95%)	Edward Gamble Rothwell	Mary Lillian Laxon
	💍 1908/371
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Home duties
Age	37	22
Dwelling Place	Whatawhata	Whatawhata
Length of Residence	30 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Whatawhata
Folio	08/356
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. A. Macdonald

23 January 1908

Thomas Robinson
Lily Gertrude Manktelow

Widower
Spinster

Contractor
Home duties

53
23

Claudelands
Hereone, Morrinsville

1 month
4 months

Wesleyan Parsonage, Te Aroha

08/413

23 January 1908

Rev. John Dukes

No	5
Date of Notice	23 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Robinson	Lily Gertrude Manktelow
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Home duties
Age	53	23
Dwelling Place	Claudelands	Hereone, Morrinsville
Length of Residence	1 month	4 months
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Parsonage, Te Aroha
Folio	08/413
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Dukes

27 January 1908

Anton Theodore Lange
Laurie Jane Marson

Anton Theodore Lange
Laurie Jane Manson
💍 1908/378

Bachelor
Spinster

Land agent
Laundress

30
21

Hamilton
Hamilton

14 weeks
14 weeks

In house of Rev. J. E. Adams, Hamilton

08/363

27 January 1908

Rev. James Ernest Adams

No	6
Date of Notice	27 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Anton Theodore Lange	Laurie Jane Marson
BDM Match (97%)	Anton Theodore Lange	Laurie Jane Manson
	💍 1908/378
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Land agent	Laundress
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	14 weeks	14 weeks
Marriage Place	In house of Rev. J. E. Adams, Hamilton
Folio	08/363
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Ernest Adams

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).