Intentions to Marry, 1908 Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840437, 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 085

District of Foxton Quarter ending 30 September 1908 Registrar A. D. Clemett

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

8 July 1908

Samuel Henry Baker
Catherine Harris

Samuel Henry Baker
Catherine Harris
💍 1908/7120

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

36
28

Foxton
Sydenham, Christchurch

31 years

Primitive Methodist Church, Sydenham

08/5727

8 July 1908

Rev. Walter Harris, Primitive Methodist

No	35
Date of Notice	8 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Henry Baker	Catherine Harris
	💍 1908/7120
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	36	28
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Sydenham, Christchurch
Length of Residence	31 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Sydenham
Folio	08/5727
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. Walter Harris, Primitive Methodist

21 July 1908

Richard Daly
Alice Amelia Funnell

Richard Daly
Alice Amelia Funnell
💍 1908/6439

Divorced
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

50
33

Oroua Bridge
Oroua Bridge

12 years
2 years

Office of the Registrar, Foxton

08/4996

21 July 1908

A. D. Clemett, Registrar

No	36
Date of Notice	21 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Daly	Alice Amelia Funnell
	💍 1908/6439
Condition	Divorced	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	50	33
Dwelling Place	Oroua Bridge	Oroua Bridge
Length of Residence	12 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Foxton
Folio	08/4996
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 July 1908
Officiating Minister	A. D. Clemett, Registrar

21 July 1908

John Edward Coley
Elizabeth Annie Tollinson

John Edward Coley
Elizabeth Annie Tollison
💍 1908/6437

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

23
21

Foxton
Foxton

23 years
18 months

Rev P. J. Mairs Private Residence, Foxton

08/4994

21 July 1908

Rev. P. J. Mairs, Primitive Methodist

No	37
Date of Notice	21 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Edward Coley	Elizabeth Annie Tollinson
BDM Match (98%)	John Edward Coley	Elizabeth Annie Tollison
	💍 1908/6437
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	23 years	18 months
Marriage Place	Rev P. J. Mairs Private Residence, Foxton
Folio	08/4994
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 July 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Mairs, Primitive Methodist

22 July 1908

James Edward Francis Dunn
Mary Catherine McGrath

James Edward Francis Dunn
Mary Catherine McGrath
💍 1908/6491

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

25
27

Foxton
Foxton

25 years
12 months

St. Mary Roman Catholic Church, Foxton

08/5037

22 July 1908

Rev. Father Coquet, Roman Catholic

No	38
Date of Notice	22 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Edward Francis Dunn	Mary Catherine McGrath
	💍 1908/6491
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	25 years	12 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary Roman Catholic Church, Foxton
Folio	08/5037
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Coquet, Roman Catholic

23 July 1908

Jonas Webb
Ann McGrath

Jonas Webb
Anne McGrath
💍 1908/6481

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

23
24

Foxton
Foxton

23 years
18 months

St. Mary Roman Catholic Church, Foxton

08/5038

23 July 1908

Rev. Father Coquet, Roman Catholic

No	39
Date of Notice	23 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jonas Webb	Ann McGrath
BDM Match (96%)	Jonas Webb	Anne McGrath
	💍 1908/6481
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	23 years	18 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary Roman Catholic Church, Foxton
Folio	08/5038
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Coquet, Roman Catholic

29 September 1908

William Liddell
Eliza Overend

Williams Liddell
Eliza Overend
💍 1908/6438

Bachelor
Widow

Clerk
Domestic duties

42
38

Foxton
Foxton

35 years

Rev. P. J. Mairs Private Residence, Foxton

08/4995

29 September 1908

Rev. P. J. Mairs, Primitive Methodist

No	40
Date of Notice	29 September 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Liddell	Eliza Overend
BDM Match (97%)	Williams Liddell	Eliza Overend
	💍 1908/6438
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Clerk	Domestic duties
Age	42	38
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	35 years
Marriage Place	Rev. P. J. Mairs Private Residence, Foxton
Folio	08/4995
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 September 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Mairs, 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).