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 029

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

114

11 February 1908

Maxwell Duncan Mackown
Marianne Drower

Maxwell Duncan MacGoun
Marianne Drower
💍 1908/129

Bachelor
Spinster

Dentist

29
23

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
23 years

St. Sepulchre's Church, Auckland

08/94

11 February 1908

Rev. E. J. McFarland, Church of England

No	114
Date of Notice	11 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Maxwell Duncan Mackown	Marianne Drower
BDM Match (95%)	Maxwell Duncan MacGoun	Marianne Drower
	💍 1908/129
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dentist
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Sepulchre's Church, Auckland
Folio	08/94
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. J. McFarland, Church of England

115

10 February 1908

Bernard George Holton
Sarah Williams

Bernard George Holton
Sarah Williams
💍 1908/224

Bachelor
Spinster

Importer

31
23

Auckland
Auckland

1 year
10

Sacred Heart Church, Ponsonby

08/197

10 February 1908

Rev. J. Williams, Roman Catholic

No	115
Date of Notice	10 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bernard George Holton	Sarah Williams
	💍 1908/224
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Importer
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 year	10
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Church, Ponsonby
Folio	08/197
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Williams, Roman Catholic

116

10 February 1908

James McCormick
Mona Marie Clark

James McCormick
Mona Marie Clark
💍 1908/257

Bachelor
Spinster

Barber

28
22

Auckland
Auckland

4 days
22 years

House of Rev. M. Walker, Wellington St.

08/232

10 February 1908

Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

No	116
Date of Notice	10 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James McCormick	Mona Marie Clark
	💍 1908/257
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barber
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 days	22 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. M. Walker, Wellington St.
Folio	08/232
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

118

11 February 1908

James Henry Mingins
Elizabeth Florence Murray

James Henry Mingins
Elizabeth Florence Murray
💍 1908/3839

Bachelor
Spinster

Decorator

21
23

Auckland
Auckland

5 months
6

House of Rev. M. Walker, Wellington St.

08/233

11 February 1908

Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

No	118
Date of Notice	11 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Henry Mingins	Elizabeth Florence Murray
	💍 1908/3839
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Decorator
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 months	6
Marriage Place	House of Rev. M. Walker, Wellington St.
Folio	08/233
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

119

11 February 1908

William Albert Sims
Lily Emerson

William Albert Sims
Lily Smerdon
💍 1908/309

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner

20
17

Auckland
Auckland

20 years
17

House of Father of Bride, Howe St.

08/264

Robert Sims, father of groom; John Edwards, father of bride

11 February 1908

Rev. G. Clement, Primitive Methodist

No	119
Date of Notice	11 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Albert Sims	Lily Emerson
BDM Match (92%)	William Albert Sims	Lily Smerdon
	💍 1908/309
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner
Age	20	17
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	20 years	17
Marriage Place	House of Father of Bride, Howe St.
Folio	08/264
Consent	Robert Sims, father of groom; John Edwards, father of bride
Date of Certificate	11 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Clement, Primitive Methodist

120

11 February 1908

Henry Clark
Ada Evangeline Collings

Henry Clark
Ada Evangeline Collings
💍 1908/140

Bachelor
Spinster

Tram Conductor

23
23

Auckland
Auckland

15 years
23

St. Matthew's Church, Auckland

08/104

11 February 1908

Rev. W. R. Gifflam, Church of England

No	120
Date of Notice	11 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Clark	Ada Evangeline Collings
	💍 1908/140
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tram Conductor
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	15 years	23
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Auckland
Folio	08/104
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. R. Gifflam, Church of England

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).