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 184

District of Pahiatua Quarter ending 30 September 1908 Registrar D. O'Rourke

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

17 July 1908

William James Jackson
Jessie Evelyn Stratford

William James Jackson
Jessie Evelyn Stratford
💍 1908/4000

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Domestic

29
19

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

3 days
17 years

Church of Christ Meeting House, Pahiatua

08/5044

F. A. Stratford, Father

17 July 1908

Rev. W. H. Speer

No	26
Date of Notice	17 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Jackson	Jessie Evelyn Stratford
	💍 1908/4000
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Domestic
Age	29	19
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	3 days	17 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ Meeting House, Pahiatua
Folio	08/5044
Consent	F. A. Stratford, Father
Date of Certificate	17 July 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Speer

18 July 1908

Walter Vincent Brown
Bertha Matilda Olsen

Walter Vincent Brown
Bertha Matilda Olsen
💍 1908/4002

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

23
22

Scarborough
Scarborough

4 months
4 months

Residence of W. V. Brown, Scarborough

08/5045

18 July 1908

Rev. W. H. Speer

No	27
Date of Notice	18 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Vincent Brown	Bertha Matilda Olsen
	💍 1908/4002
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Scarborough	Scarborough
Length of Residence	4 months	4 months
Marriage Place	Residence of W. V. Brown, Scarborough
Folio	08/5045
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 July 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Speer

20 July 1908

James Blackwell Sasson
Alice Rebecca Walker

James Blackwell Gasson
Alice Rebecca Walker
💍 1908/4001

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

33
21

Mangatainoka
Mangatainoka

5 days
4 years

Office of Registrar, Pahiatua

08/5046

20 July 1908

D. O'Rourke, Registrar

No	28
Date of Notice	20 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Blackwell Sasson	Alice Rebecca Walker
BDM Match (98%)	James Blackwell Gasson	Alice Rebecca Walker
	💍 1908/4001
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	33	21
Dwelling Place	Mangatainoka	Mangatainoka
Length of Residence	5 days	4 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar, Pahiatua
Folio	08/5046
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1908
Officiating Minister	D. O'Rourke, Registrar

23 July 1908

Robert Upston
Mary Ann Bryant

Robert Upston
Mary Ann Bryant
💍 1908/4003

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

29
20

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

7 years
3 months

Office of Registrar, Pahiatua

08/5047

A. D. Bryant, Father

23 July 1908

D. O'Rourke, Registrar

No	29
Date of Notice	23 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Upston	Mary Ann Bryant
	💍 1908/4003
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	7 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar, Pahiatua
Folio	08/5047
Consent	A. D. Bryant, Father
Date of Certificate	23 July 1908
Officiating Minister	D. O'Rourke, Registrar

24 July 1908

Hugh Robert Nelson
Helen Turner Finnis

Hugh Robert Nelson
Helen Turner Finnis
💍 1908/4004

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nil

35
26

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

4 years
4 days

Church of England, Pahiatua

08/5048

24 July 1908

Rev. C. H. Isaacson

No	30
Date of Notice	24 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Robert Nelson	Helen Turner Finnis
	💍 1908/4004
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nil
Age	35	26
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	4 years	4 days
Marriage Place	Church of England, Pahiatua
Folio	08/5048
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Isaacson

2 September 1908

George James Geange
Alma Mary Louisa Nicholls

George James Geange
Alma Mary Louisa Nicholls
💍 1908/4005

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nil

29
28

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

10 years
6 weeks

Anglican Church, Pahiatua

08/5049

2 September 1908

Rev. C. H. Isaacson

No	31
Date of Notice	2 September 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George James Geange	Alma Mary Louisa Nicholls
	💍 1908/4005
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nil
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	10 years	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Pahiatua
Folio	08/5049
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 September 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Isaacson

2 September 1908

Charles Robertson
Janet Robinson

Charles Robertson
Janet Robinson
💍 1908/3984

Bachelor
Spinster

Creamery Manager
Domestic

29
25

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

6 days
1 year

Residence of Robert Robinson, Konini

08/5052

2 September 1908

Rev. J. Chalmers Mill

No	32
Date of Notice	2 September 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Robertson	Janet Robinson
	💍 1908/3984
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Creamery Manager	Domestic
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	6 days	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of Robert Robinson, Konini
Folio	08/5052
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 September 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Chalmers Mill

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).