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 362

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

181

29 February 1908

Philip Murdoch
Minnie Sullivan

Philip Murdoch
Minnie Sullivan
💍 1908/1040

Bachelor
Spinster

Motorman

22
24

Wellington
Wellington

life
3 yrs

St. Joseph's Church, Buckle Street, Wellington

08/1056

29 February 1908

Very Rev. T. O'Shea

No	181
Date of Notice	29 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip Murdoch	Minnie Sullivan
	💍 1908/1040
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motorman
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	life	3 yrs
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Church, Buckle Street, Wellington
Folio	08/1056
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. T. O'Shea

182

29 February 1908

Arthur Smith
Mary Elizabeth Edlin

Arthur Smith
Mary Elizabeth Edlin
💍 1908/1103

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

22
19

Petone
Petone

12 mos.
10 yrs.

Residence of Mr. J. H. Edlin, 22 Mabel Street, Petone

08/1095

Joseph Henry Edlin (Father)

29 February 1908

Rev. B. Metson

No	182
Date of Notice	29 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Smith	Mary Elizabeth Edlin
	💍 1908/1103
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	12 mos.	10 yrs.
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. H. Edlin, 22 Mabel Street, Petone
Folio	08/1095
Consent	Joseph Henry Edlin (Father)
Date of Certificate	29 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Metson

183

2 March 1908

Allan George Leask Watt
Myrtle Daphne Halbert

Allan George Hark Watt
Myrtle Daphne Halbert
💍 1908/971

Bachelor
Spinster

Draftsman

29
20

Wellington
Wellington

4 yrs.
6 yrs.

Residence of Mr. Halbert, 51 Marjoribanks Street, Wellington

08/985

Thomas Halbert (Father)

2 March 1908

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	183
Date of Notice	2 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan George Leask Watt	Myrtle Daphne Halbert
BDM Match (94%)	Allan George Hark Watt	Myrtle Daphne Halbert
	💍 1908/971
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draftsman
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 yrs.	6 yrs.
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Halbert, 51 Marjoribanks Street, Wellington
Folio	08/985
Consent	Thomas Halbert (Father)
Date of Certificate	2 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

184

2 March 1908

Edward James Thompson
Elsie Elizabeth Lovell

Edward James Thompson
Elsie Elizabeth Lovell
💍 1908/899

Bachelor
Spinster

Quarryman

21
18

Miramar
Karori

3 yrs.
3 yrs.

Registrar's Office, Wellington

08/910

Mary Lewis (Mother)

2 March 1908

Registrar

No	184
Date of Notice	2 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward James Thompson	Elsie Elizabeth Lovell
	💍 1908/899
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Quarryman
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Miramar	Karori
Length of Residence	3 yrs.	3 yrs.
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	08/910
Consent	Mary Lewis (Mother)
Date of Certificate	2 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Registrar

185

2 March 1908

William Henry Callaghan
Ada Roslyn Rogers

William Henry Callaghan
Ada Roslyn Rogers
💍 1908/979

Bachelor
Spinster

Copper Smith

24
23

Wellington
Wellington

life
10 yrs.

St. James' Church, South Wellington

08/971

2 March 1908

Rev. Wm. Shirer

No	185
Date of Notice	2 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Callaghan	Ada Roslyn Rogers
	💍 1908/979
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Copper Smith
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	life	10 yrs.
Marriage Place	St. James' Church, South Wellington
Folio	08/971
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Shirer

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).