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 655

District of Te Puke Quarter ending 31 March 1908 Registrar David Walsh

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

21 January 1908

John Potiki
Mary Gourley

John Potiki
Mary Gourlay
💍 1908/422

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

46
30

Te Puke
Te Puke

14 months
6 months

At the Private residence of Mr James Paterson

08/410

21 January 1908

Rev. W. Gillies

No	1
Date of Notice	21 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Potiki	Mary Gourley
BDM Match (96%)	John Potiki	Mary Gourlay
	💍 1908/422
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	46	30
Dwelling Place	Te Puke	Te Puke
Length of Residence	14 months	6 months
Marriage Place	At the Private residence of Mr James Paterson
Folio	08/410
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Gillies

27 January 1908

Martin Hamlin Ryburn
Mary Wilson Wallace

Martyn Hamlin Ryburn
Mary Wilson Wallace
💍 1908/421

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

28
30

Te Puke
Te Puke

6 years
9 years

At the private residence of Mr Gavin Wallace

08/409

27 January 1908

Rev. W. Gillies

No	2
Date of Notice	27 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Hamlin Ryburn	Mary Wilson Wallace
BDM Match (98%)	Martyn Hamlin Ryburn	Mary Wilson Wallace
	💍 1908/421
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	28	30
Dwelling Place	Te Puke	Te Puke
Length of Residence	6 years	9 years
Marriage Place	At the private residence of Mr Gavin Wallace
Folio	08/409
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Gillies

21 February 1908

Jonathan Brown
Leita Brewer

Jonathan Brown
Zeita Laura Marguerita Brewer
💍 1908/8092

Bachelor
Spinster

Auctioneer
Domestic duties

34
22

Tauranga
Rotorua

34 years
7 days

Church of England, Rotorua

08/6706

21 February 1908

Rev. F. A. Bennett

No	3
Date of Notice	21 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jonathan Brown	Leita Brewer
BDM Match (71%)	Jonathan Brown	Zeita Laura Marguerita Brewer
	💍 1908/8092
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Auctioneer	Domestic duties
Age	34	22
Dwelling Place	Tauranga	Rotorua
Length of Residence	34 years	7 days
Marriage Place	Church of England, Rotorua
Folio	08/6706
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. A. Bennett

21 March 1908

Edward Richard Hughes
Agnes Spence Douglas

Edward Richard Hughes
Agnes Spence Douglas
💍 1908/423

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

32
30

Te Puke
Te Puke

13 years
14 years

Church of England, Te Puke

21 March 1908

Rev. G. D. Wilson

No	4
Date of Notice	21 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Richard Hughes	Agnes Spence Douglas
	💍 1908/423
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	32	30
Dwelling Place	Te Puke	Te Puke
Length of Residence	13 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Te Puke
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. D. Wilson

23 March 1908

Edward Richard Hughes
Agnes Spence Douglas

Edward Richard Hughes
Agnes Spence Douglas
💍 1908/423

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

32
30

Te Puke
Te Puke

13 years
14 years

In the private residence of Hugh Douglas

08/411

23 March 1908

Rev. W. Gillies

No	5
Date of Notice	23 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Richard Hughes	Agnes Spence Douglas
	💍 1908/423
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	32	30
Dwelling Place	Te Puke	Te Puke
Length of Residence	13 years	14 years
Marriage Place	In the private residence of Hugh Douglas
Folio	08/411
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Gillies

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).