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 043

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 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

184

24 February 1908

Charles Gray
Margaret Alice Coppell Hayward

Charles Gray
Margaret Alice Coppell Hayward
💍 1908/130

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

29
30

Auckland
Auckland

52 years
30 years

St Sepulchre's Church

08/95

27 February 1908

Rev. H. Reeve, Church of England

No	184
Date of Notice	24 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Gray	Margaret Alice Coppell Hayward
	💍 1908/130
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	52 years	30 years
Marriage Place	St Sepulchre's Church
Folio	08/95
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Reeve, Church of England

188

24 February 1908

Henry George Pittam
Maria Tovey

Henry George Pittam
Maria Tovey
💍 1908/264

Bachelor
Widow

Seaman

47
48

Auckland
Auckland

35 years
35 years

House of Rev. M. Walker, Wellington St.

08/240

24 February 1908

Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

No	188
Date of Notice	24 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry George Pittam	Maria Tovey
	💍 1908/264
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Seaman
Age	47	48
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	35 years	35 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. M. Walker, Wellington St.
Folio	08/240
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

189

24 February 1908

Charles Edwin Guildford
Margaret Brown Ness

Charles Edwin Guildford
Margaret Brown Ness
💍 1908/655

Bachelor
Spinster

Machinist

23
20

Auckland
Waikumete

23 years
5 years

House of father of bride

08/634

David Ness, father

27 February 1908

Rev. R. Sommerville, Presbyterian

No	189
Date of Notice	24 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edwin Guildford	Margaret Brown Ness
	💍 1908/655
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Machinist
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Waikumete
Length of Residence	23 years	5 years
Marriage Place	House of father of bride
Folio	08/634
Consent	David Ness, father
Date of Certificate	27 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Sommerville, Presbyterian

190

24 February 1908

Thomas Edward Loader
Mary O'Meara

Thomas Edward Loader
Mary O'Meara
💍 1908/169

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

27
20

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
20 years

St Matthew's Church

08/110

William O'Meara, father

24 February 1908

Rev. W. R. Gillam, Church of England

No	190
Date of Notice	24 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Edward Loader	Mary O'Meara
	💍 1908/169
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St Matthew's Church
Folio	08/110
Consent	William O'Meara, father
Date of Certificate	24 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. R. Gillam, Church of England

191

27 February 1908

Archibald Wilkie
Maud Martin

Archibald Wilkie
Maud Martin
💍 1908/211

Archibald McLiver
Amy Ida Martin
💍 1909/8061

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver

24
20

Auckland
Auckland

25 years
20 years

St James's Manse

08/183

Elizabeth Burtenshaw, mother

27 February 1908

Rev. R. D. Walker, Presbyterian

No	191
Date of Notice	27 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Wilkie	Maud Martin
	💍 1908/211
BDM Match (61%)	Archibald McLiver	Amy Ida Martin
	💍 1909/8061
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	25 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St James's Manse
Folio	08/183
Consent	Elizabeth Burtenshaw, mother
Date of Certificate	27 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. D. Walker, Presbyterian

192

28 February 1908

John Lewis Horne
Ada Frances Stuart

John Lewis Horne
Ada Frances Stuart
💍 1908/263

Bachelor
Divorced

Flax-mill hand

31
37

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
9 months

House of Rev. M. Walker, Wellington Street

08/239

28 February 1908

Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

No	192
Date of Notice	28 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Lewis Horne	Ada Frances Stuart
	💍 1908/263
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced
Profession	Flax-mill hand
Age	31	37
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	9 months
Marriage Place	House of Rev. M. Walker, Wellington Street
Folio	08/239
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 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).