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 087

District of Foxton Quarter ending 31 December 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

22 October 1908

Frederick Henry Henricksen
Ellen Hannah King

Fredrick Henry Henricksen
Ellen Hannah King
💍 1908/8283

Bachelor
Spinster

Porter
Domestic Duties

27
23

Waitara
Foxton

2 years
23 years

Private house of Brides Parents, Foxton

08/6895

22 October 1908

Rev Geo W Aitken

No	41
Date of Notice	22 October 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Henry Henricksen	Ellen Hannah King
BDM Match (98%)	Fredrick Henry Henricksen	Ellen Hannah King
	💍 1908/8283
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Porter	Domestic Duties
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Waitara	Foxton
Length of Residence	2 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Private house of Brides Parents, Foxton
Folio	08/6895
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 October 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev Geo W Aitken

26 October 1908

Alfred Mitchell Wright
May Victoria Coley

Alfred Mitchell Wright
May Victoria Coley
💍 1908/2740

Bachelor
Spinster

Horse Trainer
Domestic Duties

31
21

Foxton
Foxton

31 years
21 years

All Saints Anglican Church, Foxton

08/7482

26 October 1908

Rev G Young Woodward

No	42
Date of Notice	26 October 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Mitchell Wright	May Victoria Coley
	💍 1908/2740
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Horse Trainer	Domestic Duties
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	31 years	21 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Anglican Church, Foxton
Folio	08/7482
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 October 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev G Young Woodward

24 November 1908

Wilfrid Kirkley
Annie Elizabeth Collins

Wilfred Kirkley
Annie Elizabeth Collins
💍 1908/2741

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

27
24

Manakau
Foxton

7 months
24 years

All Saints Anglican Church, Foxton

08/7483

24 November 1908

Rev G Young Woodward

No	43
Date of Notice	24 November 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilfrid Kirkley	Annie Elizabeth Collins
BDM Match (97%)	Wilfred Kirkley	Annie Elizabeth Collins
	💍 1908/2741
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Manakau	Foxton
Length of Residence	7 months	24 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Anglican Church, Foxton
Folio	08/7483
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 November 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev G Young Woodward

19 December 1908

William Edward Coley
Christina Annie Wallis

William Edward Coley
Christina Annie Wallis
💍 1908/3940

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

24
18

Moutoa
Foxton

13 years
2 years

Private house of Thos Henderson, Foxton

08/6896

M. E. Wallis (mother)

19 December 1908

Rev Geo W. Aitken

No	44
Date of Notice	19 December 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edward Coley	Christina Annie Wallis
	💍 1908/3940
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Moutoa	Foxton
Length of Residence	13 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Private house of Thos Henderson, Foxton
Folio	08/6896
Consent	M. E. Wallis (mother)
Date of Certificate	19 December 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev Geo W. Aitken

22 December 1908

Harold St John Walton
Barbara Fafeita

Harold St John Walton
Barbara Fafeita
💍 1908/8342

Bachelor
Spinster

Inspector Stock Department
Domestic Duties

28
25

Foxton
Palmerston North

13 months
25 months

Private house of Mr J Fafeita, Palmerston North

08/6959

22 December 1908

Rev Geo W Aitken

No	45
Date of Notice	22 December 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold St John Walton	Barbara Fafeita
	💍 1908/8342
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Inspector Stock Department	Domestic Duties
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	13 months	25 months
Marriage Place	Private house of Mr J Fafeita, Palmerston North
Folio	08/6959
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev Geo W Aitken

29 December 1908

Thomas William Hunt
Gertrude Annie Hamer

Thomas William Hunt
Gertrude Annie Hamer
💍 1909/7371

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Spinster

43
27

Wellington
Foxton

4 years
12 years

All Saints Anglican Church, Foxton

09/1755

31 December 1908

Rev Geo W Aitken (not)

No	46
Date of Notice	29 December 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas William Hunt	Gertrude Annie Hamer
	💍 1909/7371
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Spinster
Age	43	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Foxton
Length of Residence	4 years	12 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Anglican Church, Foxton
Folio	09/1755
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 December 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev Geo W Aitken (not)

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).