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 663

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 March 1908 Registrar William H. Potts

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

3 January 1908

George Foster
Jennie Bell McCormick

George Foster
Jennie Bell McConnick
💍 1908/464

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

46
30

Thames
Thames

4 days
30 years

In the house of Mr. McCormick, Jasane, Thames

08/429

3 January 1908

E. H. Taylor, Church of Christ

No	1
Date of Notice	3 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Foster	Jennie Bell McCormick
BDM Match (95%)	George Foster	Jennie Bell McConnick
	💍 1908/464
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	46	30
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	4 days	30 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. McCormick, Jasane, Thames
Folio	08/429
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1908
Officiating Minister	E. H. Taylor, Church of Christ

9 January 1908

Walter Langdon
Annie E. Elvin

Walter Langdon
Annie Elvin
💍 1908/440

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Domestic servant

29
26

Thames
Turua

7 days
26 years

Registrar's Office, Thames

08/421

9 January 1908

William H. Potts, Registrar

No	2
Date of Notice	9 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Langdon	Annie E. Elvin
BDM Match (89%)	Walter Langdon	Annie Elvin
	💍 1908/440
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Domestic servant
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Thames	Turua
Length of Residence	7 days	26 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Thames
Folio	08/421
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1908
Officiating Minister	William H. Potts, Registrar

1 February 1908

Frederick Collins
Lilly Ida Taylor

Frederick Collins
Lilly Ida Taylor
💍 1908/441

Bachelor
Spinster

Battery hand
Domestic duties

24
22

Thames
Thames

24 years
22 years

In the house of Mr. Taylor, Thames

08/430

1 February 1908

Rev. E. H. Taylor, Church of Christ

No	3
Date of Notice	1 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Collins	Lilly Ida Taylor
	💍 1908/441
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Battery hand	Domestic duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	24 years	22 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Taylor, Thames
Folio	08/430
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. H. Taylor, Church of Christ

12 February 1908

Garnett Wolsley Bennett
Harriett Hounslow

Garnett Welsley Bennett
Harriett Heunslew
💍 1908/451

Bachelor
Spinster

Steward on Steamer
Domestic duties

22
21

Thames
Thames

3 months
3 months

In the Registrar's Office, Thames

08/422

12 February 1908

William H. Potts, Registrar

No	4
Date of Notice	12 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Garnett Wolsley Bennett	Harriett Hounslow
BDM Match (92%)	Garnett Welsley Bennett	Harriett Heunslew
	💍 1908/451
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Steward on Steamer	Domestic duties
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 months	3 months
Marriage Place	In the Registrar's Office, Thames
Folio	08/422
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1908
Officiating Minister	William H. Potts, Registrar

22 February 1908

Frederick John Dare
Ailison Hardy Laurie

Frederick John Dare
Allison Hardy Laurie
💍 1908/459

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

28
25

Thames
Thames

28 years
25 years

In the House of Mr. W. Laurie, Pollen St., Thames

08/424

22 February 1908

Rev. J. Blight, Methodist Church of Australasia

No	5
Date of Notice	22 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick John Dare	Ailison Hardy Laurie
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick John Dare	Allison Hardy Laurie
	💍 1908/459
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	28 years	25 years
Marriage Place	In the House of Mr. W. Laurie, Pollen St., Thames
Folio	08/424
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Blight, Methodist Church of Australasia

29 February 1908

Edward Joseph McLoughlin
Mary Josephine Hayes

Edward Joseph McLoughlin
Mary Josephine Hayes
💍 1908/442

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

34
29

Thames
Thames

34 years
29 years

St. Francis Roman Catholic Church, Willoughby, Thames

08/431

29 February 1908

The Right Rev. Monsignor O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

No	6
Date of Notice	29 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Joseph McLoughlin	Mary Josephine Hayes
	💍 1908/442
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	34	29
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	34 years	29 years
Marriage Place	St. Francis Roman Catholic Church, Willoughby, Thames
Folio	08/431
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 February 1908
Officiating Minister	The Right Rev. Monsignor O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

3 March 1908

David Troughton
Elizabeth Innis

David Troughton
Elizabeth Innis
💍 1908/461

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

30
27

Thames
Marepoa

6 days
27 years

In the house of Mr. Innis, Marepoa, Thames

08/426

3 March 1908

Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

No	7
Date of Notice	3 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Troughton	Elizabeth Innis
	💍 1908/461
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Thames	Marepoa
Length of Residence	6 days	27 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Innis, Marepoa, Thames
Folio	08/426
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

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).