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 666

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 June 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

25 April 1908

Teni Tepere
Makirangi Tame Matatehare

Tene Tepere
Makirangi Tame Matatahare
💍 1908/4068

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler
Domestic duties

23
19

Thames
Thames

23 years
19 years

In the house of Maui Tepere, Turua

08/2494

Tame Matatehare, Father

25 April 1908

Elder Rufus K. Hardy, Mormon

No	18
Date of Notice	25 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Teni Tepere	Makirangi Tame Matatehare
BDM Match (93%)	Tene Tepere	Makirangi Tame Matatahare
	💍 1908/4068
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler	Domestic duties
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	23 years	19 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Maui Tepere, Turua
Folio	08/2494
Consent	Tame Matatehare, Father
Date of Certificate	25 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Elder Rufus K. Hardy, Mormon

8 May 1908

William James Majurey
May Moka

Bachelor
Spinster

Drainer
Domestic duties

21
21

Thames
Kiri Kiri

3 years
21 years

At the Registrar's Office, Thames

08/2319

8 May 1908

William H. Potts, Registrar

No	19
Date of Notice	8 May 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Majurey	May Moka
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Drainer	Domestic duties
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Kiri Kiri
Length of Residence	3 years	21 years
Marriage Place	At the Registrar's Office, Thames
Folio	08/2319
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 May 1908
Officiating Minister	William H. Potts, Registrar

12 May 1908

William McNeil
Georgina Annie Noble

William McNeil
Georgina Annie Noble
💍 1908/2199

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

34
19

Thames
Thames

1 year
5 months

In the Registrar's Office, Thames

08/2320

Annie Noble, Mother

12 May 1908

William H. Potts, Registrar

No	20
Date of Notice	12 May 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McNeil	Georgina Annie Noble
	💍 1908/2199
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	34	19
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	1 year	5 months
Marriage Place	In the Registrar's Office, Thames
Folio	08/2320
Consent	Annie Noble, Mother
Date of Certificate	12 May 1908
Officiating Minister	William H. Potts, Registrar

13 May 1908

William Jackson
Kate Rolton
widow is dated 18th August 1905

William Jackson
Kate Rolton
💍 1908/2200

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer
Domestic duties

42
39

Thames
Thames

3 days
30 years

In the Registrar's Office, Thames

08/2321

13 May 1908

William H. Potts, Registrar

No	21
Date of Notice	13 May 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Jackson	Kate Rolton widow is dated 18th August 1905
	💍 1908/2200
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	42	39
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	30 years
Marriage Place	In the Registrar's Office, Thames
Folio	08/2321
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1908
Officiating Minister	William H. Potts, Registrar

13 May 1908

Ernest Richard Thornton
Winifred Amy Challis

Ernest Richard Thornton
Winifred Amy Challis
💍 1908/2187

Bachelor
Spinster

Fruiterer
Tailoress

20
22

Thames
Thames

12 years
22 years

St. John's Church of England, Tararu, Thames

08/2309

Richard Thornton, Father

13 May 1908

Dr. O'Callaghan, Church of England

No	22
Date of Notice	13 May 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Richard Thornton	Winifred Amy Challis
	💍 1908/2187
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fruiterer	Tailoress
Age	20	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	12 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church of England, Tararu, Thames
Folio	08/2309
Consent	Richard Thornton, Father
Date of Certificate	13 May 1908
Officiating Minister	Dr. O'Callaghan, Church of England

19 May 1908

Charles Palmer Junior
Margaret Marion Lamb

Charles Palmer
Margaret Marion Lamb
💍 1908/2188

Bachelor
Spinster

Confectioner
Domestic duties

33
37

Thames
Thames

33 years
20 years

In the house of Mrs. Lamb, Baillie St., Thames

08/2310

19 May 1908

Rev. A. Harding, Primitive Methodist

No	23
Date of Notice	19 May 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Palmer Junior	Margaret Marion Lamb
BDM Match (83%)	Charles Palmer	Margaret Marion Lamb
	💍 1908/2188
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Confectioner	Domestic duties
Age	33	37
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	33 years	20 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs. Lamb, Baillie St., Thames
Folio	08/2310
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 May 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Harding, Primitive Methodist

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).