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 203

District of AUCKLAND Quarter ending 31 December 1908

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

1056

6 November 1908

Herman Leslie Watkins
Elsie Boden

Herman Leslie Watkins
Elsie Boden
💍 1908/2565

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

21
18

Auckland
Auckland

10 days
1 month

St. Sepulchre's Church

08/7301

Samuel Boden, father

6 November 1908

Rev. G. W. Smales, Church of England

No	1056
Date of Notice	6 November 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herman Leslie Watkins	Elsie Boden
	💍 1908/2565
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 days	1 month
Marriage Place	St. Sepulchre's Church
Folio	08/7301
Consent	Samuel Boden, father
Date of Certificate	6 November 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Smales, Church of England

1057

6 November 1908

Herbert Samuel Jackson Bonelly
Ellen Emily Blake

Herbert Samuel Jackson Conelly
Ellen Emily Blake
💍 1908/7810

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32
29

Auckland
Onehunga

32 years
29 years

Roman Catholic Church

08/6406

6 November 1908

Rev. W. B. Mahoney, Roman Catholic

No	1057
Date of Notice	6 November 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Samuel Jackson Bonelly	Ellen Emily Blake
BDM Match (98%)	Herbert Samuel Jackson Conelly	Ellen Emily Blake
	💍 1908/7810
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	29
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Onehunga
Length of Residence	32 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	08/6406
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. B. Mahoney, Roman Catholic

1058

6 November 1908

Charles Henry Rush
Eva Isabel Keefe

Charles Henry Rush
Eva Isabell Keefe
💍 1908/7764

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

25
19

Auckland
Ponsonby

25 years
19 years

House of father of bride, Albany Road

08/6396

Matthew Keefe, father

6 November 1908

Rev. R. Ferguson, Presbyterian

No	1058
Date of Notice	6 November 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Rush	Eva Isabel Keefe
BDM Match (97%)	Charles Henry Rush	Eva Isabell Keefe
	💍 1908/7764
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Ponsonby
Length of Residence	25 years	19 years
Marriage Place	House of father of bride, Albany Road
Folio	08/6396
Consent	Matthew Keefe, father
Date of Certificate	6 November 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Ferguson, Presbyterian

1059

6 November 1908

Alfred Edward Gulljames
Alice Cocker

Alfred Edward Fulljames
Alice Cocker
💍 1908/7834

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

33
31

Auckland
Birkenhead

15 years
7 years

Methodist Church, Birkenhead

08/6430

6 November 1908

Rev. R. Taylor, Methodist

No	1059
Date of Notice	6 November 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Edward Gulljames	Alice Cocker
BDM Match (98%)	Alfred Edward Fulljames	Alice Cocker
	💍 1908/7834
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	33	31
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Birkenhead
Length of Residence	15 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Birkenhead
Folio	08/6430
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Taylor, Methodist

1060

6 November 1908

Edward Martin Grey
Geraldine Constance Carey Harrison

Edward Martin Grey
Geraldine Constance Carey Harrison
💍 1908/7845

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

37
29

Auckland
Wellington Street

37 years
2 weeks

House of Rev. M. Walker

08/6466

6 November 1908

Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

No	1060
Date of Notice	6 November 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Martin Grey	Geraldine Constance Carey Harrison
	💍 1908/7845
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	37	29
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Wellington Street
Length of Residence	37 years	2 weeks
Marriage Place	House of Rev. M. Walker
Folio	08/6466
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

1061

7 November 1908

Henry William Budge
Jane Budge

Henry William Budge
Jane Budge
💍 1908/7775

Bachelor
Widow

Marine Engineer

42
31

Auckland
Mount Roskill

3 days
31 years

House of Mr. Armstrong

08/6377

7 November 1908

Rev. G. J. Roby, Presbyterian

No	1061
Date of Notice	7 November 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry William Budge	Jane Budge
	💍 1908/7775
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Marine Engineer
Age	42	31
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Mount Roskill
Length of Residence	3 days	31 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Armstrong
Folio	08/6377
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 November 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. J. Roby, 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).