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 758

District of Inglewood Quarter ending 31 March 1908 Registrar G. W. Bennett

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

611

25 January 1908

Alfred Lewis Bishell
Mona Moretta Lowe

Alfred Lewis Bishell
Mona Moretta Lowe
💍 1908/490

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

21
18

Tarato
Purangi

6 months
12 months

as the Church of England at Purangi

08/484

Samuel Lowe, father of Mona Moretta Lowe

25 January 1908

Rev. G. A. T. Rickaby

No	611
Date of Notice	25 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Lewis Bishell	Mona Moretta Lowe
	💍 1908/490
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Tarato	Purangi
Length of Residence	6 months	12 months
Marriage Place	as the Church of England at Purangi
Folio	08/484
Consent	Samuel Lowe, father of Mona Moretta Lowe
Date of Certificate	25 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. A. T. Rickaby

612

29 January 1908

Stewart Huston
Mabel Ellen Taylor

Stewart Huston
Mabel Ellen Taylor
💍 1908/637

Bachelor
Spinster

Tobacconist

32
20

Inglewood
Inglewood

4 years
20 years

as the Church of England at Inglewood

08/641

Harry Taylor, father of Mabel Ellen Taylor

29 January 1908

Rev. G. A. T. Rickaby

No	612
Date of Notice	29 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stewart Huston	Mabel Ellen Taylor
	💍 1908/637
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tobacconist
Age	32	20
Dwelling Place	Inglewood	Inglewood
Length of Residence	4 years	20 years
Marriage Place	as the Church of England at Inglewood
Folio	08/641
Consent	Harry Taylor, father of Mabel Ellen Taylor
Date of Certificate	29 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. A. T. Rickaby

613

7 February 1908

Walter Nathaniel Lewis Valentine
Elizabeth Alice West

Walter Nathaniel Lewis Valentine
Elizabeth Alice Hert
💍 1908/510

Widower
Widow

Farmer

30
38

Moa District
Moa District

5 years
25 years

at the Residence of Mr. H. Rumball, Rugby Road Moa District

08/481

7 February 1908

Rev. H. White

No	613
Date of Notice	7 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Nathaniel Lewis Valentine	Elizabeth Alice West
BDM Match (95%)	Walter Nathaniel Lewis Valentine	Elizabeth Alice Hert
	💍 1908/510
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	38
Dwelling Place	Moa District	Moa District
Length of Residence	5 years	25 years
Marriage Place	at the Residence of Mr. H. Rumball, Rugby Road Moa District
Folio	08/481
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. White

614

8 February 1908

Henry Goble
Ellen Catherine Edmonds

Henry Goble
Ellen Catherine Edmonds
💍 1908/509

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

24
18

Moa District
Moa District

24 years
6 years

at the Residence of Mr. G. T. Edmonds, Mountain Road Moa District

08/480

Godfrey Thomas Edmonds, father of Ellen Catherine Edmonds

8 February 1908

Rev. H. White

No	614
Date of Notice	8 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Goble	Ellen Catherine Edmonds
	💍 1908/509
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Moa District	Moa District
Length of Residence	24 years	6 years
Marriage Place	at the Residence of Mr. G. T. Edmonds, Mountain Road Moa District
Folio	08/480
Consent	Godfrey Thomas Edmonds, father of Ellen Catherine Edmonds
Date of Certificate	8 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. White

615

10 February 1908

John Toms
Elsie Rowena Turner

John Toms
Elsie Rowena Turner
💍 1908/3861

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic

28
19

New Plymouth
Inglewood

5 years
19 years

at the Residence of Mr. W. Marshall, Inglewood

08/482

Eleanor Goller, Mother of Elsie Rowena Turner

10 February 1908

Rev. H. White

No	615
Date of Notice	10 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Toms	Elsie Rowena Turner
	💍 1908/3861
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	New Plymouth	Inglewood
Length of Residence	5 years	19 years
Marriage Place	at the Residence of Mr. W. Marshall, Inglewood
Folio	08/482
Consent	Eleanor Goller, Mother of Elsie Rowena Turner
Date of Certificate	10 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. White

616

12 February 1908

William Peachey Aldridge
Lucy Nicholls

William Peachey Aldridge
Lucy Nicholls
💍 1908/491

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist

25
26

Moa District
Moa District

3 days
10 years

at the Residence of Mr. B. H. Nicholls, Mountain Road, Moa District

08/485

12 February 1908

Mr. John Richards

No	616
Date of Notice	12 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Peachey Aldridge	Lucy Nicholls
	💍 1908/491
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Moa District	Moa District
Length of Residence	3 days	10 years
Marriage Place	at the Residence of Mr. B. H. Nicholls, Mountain Road, Moa District
Folio	08/485
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Mr. John Richards

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).