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 110

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 June 1908 Registrar Edmund Humphrey Lyons

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

559

5 June 1908

Gerald Frank Gilbert Smith
Vera Mildred Gentil

Gerald Frank Gilbert Smith
Vera Mildred Gentil
💍 1908/1879

Bachelor
Spinster

Battery Hand

22
23

Auckland
Remuera

3 days
3 months

St Aidan's Church, Remuera

08/1969

5 June 1908

Rev. A. Howles, Church of England

No	559
Date of Notice	5 June 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gerald Frank Gilbert Smith	Vera Mildred Gentil
	💍 1908/1879
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Battery Hand
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Remuera
Length of Residence	3 days	3 months
Marriage Place	St Aidan's Church, Remuera
Folio	08/1969
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 June 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Howles, Church of England

560

5 June 1908

Samuel Giles Josephs
Eva Myles

Samuel Giles Josephs
Eva Myles
💍 1908/1951

Bachelor
Spinster

Butter Maker

24
23

Auckland
Franklin Road

3 years
3 years

House of Rev. J. Wilson, Franklin Road

08/2067

5 June 1908

Rev. Jas. Wilson, Methodist

No	560
Date of Notice	5 June 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Giles Josephs	Eva Myles
	💍 1908/1951
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butter Maker
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Franklin Road
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. J. Wilson, Franklin Road
Folio	08/2067
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 June 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jas. Wilson, Methodist

561

5 June 1908

John William Slater
Ethel Dorothy Barry

John William Frater
Ethel Dorothy Corry
💍 1908/3636

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

27
23

Auckland
Takapuna

7 years
4 years

St Peter's Church, Takapuna

08/1951

5 June 1908

Rev. W. G. Monckton, Church of England

No	561
Date of Notice	5 June 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Slater	Ethel Dorothy Barry
BDM Match (90%)	John William Frater	Ethel Dorothy Corry
	💍 1908/3636
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Takapuna
Length of Residence	7 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church, Takapuna
Folio	08/1951
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 June 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Monckton, Church of England

562

5 June 1908

Ernest Frederick Bressey
Mabel Florence Sayer

Ernest Frederick Bressey
Mabel Florence Sayer
💍 1908/4049

Bachelor
Divorced

Timber Expert

32
31

Auckland
Symonds Street

4 days
18 months

St Andrew's Church, Symonds Street

08/2474

5 June 1908

Rev. A. A. Murray, Presbyterian

No	562
Date of Notice	5 June 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Frederick Bressey	Mabel Florence Sayer
	💍 1908/4049
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced
Profession	Timber Expert
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Symonds Street
Length of Residence	4 days	18 months
Marriage Place	St Andrew's Church, Symonds Street
Folio	08/2474
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 June 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. A. Murray, Presbyterian

563

6 June 1908

Christopher Robinson
Eliza Strauch

Christopher Dobinson
Elsa Strauch
💍 1908/2014

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

24
26

Auckland
Victoria, Wellington Street

3 days
25 years

House of Rev. M. Walker, Wellington Street

08/2108

6 June 1908

Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

No	563
Date of Notice	6 June 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Christopher Robinson	Eliza Strauch
BDM Match (90%)	Christopher Dobinson	Elsa Strauch
	💍 1908/2014
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Victoria, Wellington Street
Length of Residence	3 days	25 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. M. Walker, Wellington Street
Folio	08/2108
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 June 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

564

6 June 1908

George Harold Thrower
Annie Roberta Cross

George Harold Thrower
Annie Roberta Cross
💍 1908/2015

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

25
21

Auckland
Bodden Street

3 months
3 days

House of Bridegroom, Bodden Street

08/2109

6 June 1908

Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

No	564
Date of Notice	6 June 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Harold Thrower	Annie Roberta Cross
	💍 1908/2015
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Bodden Street
Length of Residence	3 months	3 days
Marriage Place	House of Bridegroom, Bodden Street
Folio	08/2109
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 June 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

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).