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 350

District of WELLINGTON Quarter ending 31 March 1908 Registrar Gilbert Graham Hodgkins

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

121

13 February 1908

William John Alexander McGinity
Alice Louisa McGinity

William John Alexander McGinity
Alice Louisa McGinity
💍 1908/1057

Bachelor
Spinster

Cook

25
19

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
life

St. Mary of The Angels, Wellington

08/1049

Thomas Ingomar McGinity (Father)

13 February 1908

Rev. C. J. Venning

No	121
Date of Notice	13 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Alexander McGinity	Alice Louisa McGinity
	💍 1908/1057
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cook
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	life
Marriage Place	St. Mary of The Angels, Wellington
Folio	08/1049
Consent	Thomas Ingomar McGinity (Father)
Date of Certificate	13 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. J. Venning

122

13 February 1908

Amos Ford
Margaret Watson

Amos Flard
Margaret Watson
💍 1908/962

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmoulder

26
26

Wellington
Wellington

6 years
3 months

Residence of Mrs. Lowe, Waripori Street Wellington

08/966

13 February 1908

Rev. W. Shirer

No	122
Date of Notice	13 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Amos Ford	Margaret Watson
BDM Match (90%)	Amos Flard	Margaret Watson
	💍 1908/962
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmoulder
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Lowe, Waripori Street Wellington
Folio	08/966
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

123

13 February 1908

Henry Herbert Victor Minifie
Ruby Ellen Pearce

Henry Herbert Victor Minifie
Ruby Ellen Pearce
💍 1908/905

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

32
20

Wellington
Wellington

32 years
2 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

08/893

Annie Newey (mother)

13 February 1908

Registrar

No	123
Date of Notice	13 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Herbert Victor Minifie	Ruby Ellen Pearce
	💍 1908/905
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	32	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	32 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	08/893
Consent	Annie Newey (mother)
Date of Certificate	13 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Registrar

124

14 February 1908

Percival Louis Hester
Alice Popple

Percival Louis Hester
Alice Popple
💍 1908/1001

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

29
24

Wellington
Wellington

3 months
3 months

Residence of Rev. J. Gibson Smith, Hill Street, Wellington

08/1014

14 February 1908

Rev. J. Gibson Smith

No	124
Date of Notice	14 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percival Louis Hester	Alice Popple
	💍 1908/1001
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. J. Gibson Smith, Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	08/1014
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibson Smith

125

14 February 1908

Alfred Owen Hodge
Clara Hodge

Alfred Owen Hodge
Clara Hodge
💍 1908/1008

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor

27
21

Wellington
Wellington

18 months
18 months

Presbyterian Manse, 25 Pirie Street, Wellington

08/998

14 February 1908

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	125
Date of Notice	14 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Owen Hodge	Clara Hodge
	💍 1908/1008
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 months	18 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, 25 Pirie Street, Wellington
Folio	08/998
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

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).