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 669

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 September 1908 Registrar William Henry 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

2 July 1908

John Cargill
Elsie Maud Elliott

John Cargill
Elsie Maud Elliott
💍 1908/6807

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

22
21

Thames
Thames

22 years
5 weeks

Church of England, Mackay St, Thames

08/5374

2 July 1908

Dr O'Callaghan, Church of England

No	28
Date of Notice	2 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Cargill	Elsie Maud Elliott
	💍 1908/6807
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	22 years	5 weeks
Marriage Place	Church of England, Mackay St, Thames
Folio	08/5374
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1908
Officiating Minister	Dr O'Callaghan, Church of England

4 July 1908

Ernest George Newson
Isabell Dunlop

Ernest George Newson
Isabell Dunlop
💍 1908/6182

Bachelor
Spinster

Plasterer
Domestic duties

26
25

Thames
Thames

2 days
25 years

In the house of Mr. Dunlop, Hape Creek, Thames

08/4704

6 July 1908

Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

No	29
Date of Notice	4 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest George Newson	Isabell Dunlop
	💍 1908/6182
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plasterer	Domestic duties
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 days	25 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Dunlop, Hape Creek, Thames
Folio	08/4704
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

30 July 1908

William James Walker
Elizabeth Anne Henderson

William James Walker
Elizabeth Anne Henderson
💍 1908/6183

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

22
19

Kauaeranga
Thames

18 years
2 weeks

Roman Catholic Church, Willoughby St, Thames

08/4705

Mary Henderson, mother

30 July 1908

Rev. H. G. Tigar, Roman Catholic

No	30
Date of Notice	30 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Walker	Elizabeth Anne Henderson
	💍 1908/6183
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Kauaeranga	Thames
Length of Residence	18 years	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Willoughby St, Thames
Folio	08/4705
Consent	Mary Henderson, mother
Date of Certificate	30 July 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Tigar, Roman Catholic

12 August 1908

William Danson
Mary Wishart

William Danson
Mary Wishart
💍 1908/6806

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

35
33

Thames
Thames

6 months
33 years

In the house of Mr. Wishart, Cochrane St, Thames

08/5373

12 August 1908

Rev. J. Blight, Methodist Church of Australasia

No	31
Date of Notice	12 August 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Danson	Mary Wishart
	💍 1908/6806
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	35	33
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	6 months	33 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Wishart, Cochrane St, Thames
Folio	08/5373
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 August 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Blight, Methodist Church of Australasia

4 September 1908

William Arthur Addison
Violet Annie Maria Roberts

William Arthur Addison
Violet Annie Maria Roberts
💍 1908/6808

Bachelor
Spinster

Turner
Domestic duties

24
31

Thames
Thames

24 years
31 years

Church of England, Mary St, Thames

08/5375

4 September 1908

Dr O'Callaghan, Church of England

No	32
Date of Notice	4 September 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Arthur Addison	Violet Annie Maria Roberts
	💍 1908/6808
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Turner	Domestic duties
Age	24	31
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	24 years	31 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Mary St, Thames
Folio	08/5375
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 September 1908
Officiating Minister	Dr O'Callaghan, Church of England

5 September 1908

George Parrish
Emma Florence Taylor

George Parrish
Emma Florence Taylor
💍 1908/6181

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

28
29

Thames
Thames

1 day
20 years

At the house of Mr. Charles Taylor, Beach Road, Thames

08/4703

8 September 1908

Rev. W. H. Hinton, Baptist

No	33
Date of Notice	5 September 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Parrish	Emma Florence Taylor
	💍 1908/6181
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	1 day	20 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Mr. Charles Taylor, Beach Road, Thames
Folio	08/4703
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 September 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Hinton, Baptist

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).