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 444

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 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

586

13 July 1908

Thomas Henry Bird
Jessie Minnie Mackay

Thomas Henry Bird
Jessie Minnie Mackay
💍 1908/6624

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

26
20

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
20 years

St. Marks Church, Wellington

08/5207

There is no person resident in the Dominion having authority to give consent.

27 July 1908

Rev. A. M. Johnson

No	586
Date of Notice	13 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Bird	Jessie Minnie Mackay
	💍 1908/6624
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Marks Church, Wellington
Folio	08/5207
Consent	There is no person resident in the Dominion having authority to give consent.
Date of Certificate	27 July 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnson

587

13 July 1908

Harold Gordon Tonks
Ethel May Martin

Harold Gordon Tonks
Ethel May Marton
💍 1908/3993

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

23
22

Wellington
Palmerston North

Life
14 years

The Congregational Church Manse, Church Street, Palmerston North

08/5060

13 July 1908

Rev. D. Hird

No	587
Date of Notice	13 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Gordon Tonks	Ethel May Martin
BDM Match (97%)	Harold Gordon Tonks	Ethel May Marton
	💍 1908/3993
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	Life	14 years
Marriage Place	The Congregational Church Manse, Church Street, Palmerston North
Folio	08/5060
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Hird

588

14 July 1908

Thomas Leonard Adams
Rosina Marshall

Thomas Leonard Adams
Rosina Marshall
💍 1908/6664

Widower 20 November 1905
Widow 19 November 1905

Farmer

53
54

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
10 years

Residence of Mrs Marshall, 7 Kenwyn Terrace, Wellington

08/5223

14 July 1908

Rev. W. Shirer

No	588
Date of Notice	14 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Leonard Adams	Rosina Marshall
	💍 1908/6664
Condition	Widower 20 November 1905	Widow 19 November 1905
Profession	Farmer
Age	53	54
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Marshall, 7 Kenwyn Terrace, Wellington
Folio	08/5223
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

589

14 July 1908

William Henry Lepper
Mabel Louise Arrowsmith

William Henry Lepper
Mabel Louise Arrowsmith
💍 1908/6641

Bachelor
Spinster

Buttermaker

20
20

Wellington
Wellington

15 years
4 years

Residence of Mr W. R. Lepper, 7 Drummond Street, Wellington

08/5224

William Rigden Lepper (father) & Ellen Arrowsmith, (Mother)

14 July 1908

Rev. W. Shirer

No	589
Date of Notice	14 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Lepper	Mabel Louise Arrowsmith
	💍 1908/6641
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Buttermaker
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	15 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr W. R. Lepper, 7 Drummond Street, Wellington
Folio	08/5224
Consent	William Rigden Lepper (father) & Ellen Arrowsmith, (Mother)
Date of Certificate	14 July 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

590

14 July 1908

Walter Joseph Taylor
Mary Josephine Tigue

Walter Joseph Taylor
Mary Josephine Tigue
💍 1908/3640

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

25
23

Ngahauranga
Wellington

25 years
23 years

St. Mary of the Angels Church, Boulcott Street, Wellington

08/5284

14 July 1908

Rev. C. J. Venning

No	590
Date of Notice	14 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Joseph Taylor	Mary Josephine Tigue
	💍 1908/3640
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Ngahauranga	Wellington
Length of Residence	25 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary of the Angels Church, Boulcott Street, Wellington
Folio	08/5284
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. J. Venning

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).