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 614

District of Brunnerton Quarter ending 31 December 1908 Registrar H. G. Campbell

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

5 October 1908

Andrew Wilson
Amelia Matilda Merriman

Andrew Wilson
Amelia Matilda Merriman
💍 1908/2629

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

24
19

Hokitika
Heathdale, Brunnerton

24 years
19 years

Dwelling house of William Stevens, Heathdale, Brunnerton

08/7366

William Stevens, Step-father

5 October 1908

Rev. G. G. Ellis

No	14
Date of Notice	5 October 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Wilson	Amelia Matilda Merriman
	💍 1908/2629
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Heathdale, Brunnerton
Length of Residence	24 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of William Stevens, Heathdale, Brunnerton
Folio	08/7366
Consent	William Stevens, Step-father
Date of Certificate	5 October 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. G. Ellis

3 November 1908

Clement Peillon
Agnes Rosina Boustridge

Clement Peillon
Agnes Rosina Boustridge
💍 1908/2650

Bachelor
Spinster

Cordial Manufacturer
Domestic Duties

21
20

Heathdale
Heathdale

21 years
20 years

Presbyterian Church, Brunnerton

08/7364

Thomas Hubert Boustridge, father

3 November 1908

Rev. R. Stewart

No	15
Date of Notice	3 November 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clement Peillon	Agnes Rosina Boustridge
	💍 1908/2650
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cordial Manufacturer	Domestic Duties
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Heathdale	Heathdale
Length of Residence	21 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Brunnerton
Folio	08/7364
Consent	Thomas Hubert Boustridge, father
Date of Certificate	3 November 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Stewart

21 November 1908

Edward William Paine
Martha Kathleen Geaney

Edward William Paine
Martha Kathleen Geaney
💍 1908/3455

Bachelor
Spinster

Chainman (Survey)
Domestic duties

24
20

Brunnerton
Brunnerton

3 months
16 years

Roman Catholic Church, Brunnerton

08/8282

Humphrey Geaney, father

21 November 1908

Rev. J. Taylor

No	16
Date of Notice	21 November 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward William Paine	Martha Kathleen Geaney
	💍 1908/3455
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chainman (Survey)	Domestic duties
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Brunnerton	Brunnerton
Length of Residence	3 months	16 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Brunnerton
Folio	08/8282
Consent	Humphrey Geaney, father
Date of Certificate	21 November 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Taylor

24 December 1908

Henry Thomas Gibbens
Jane Anderson

Henry Thomas Gibbens
Jane Anderson
💍 1908/2630

Donald Thomas Milne
Mary Jane Anderson
💍 1908/568

Bachelor
Spinster

Stockman
Domestic Duties

25
24

Greymouth
Dobson, Brunnerton

25 years
24 years

Dwelling house of Mr. W. Anderson, Dobson, Brunnerton

08/7367

24 December 1908

Rev. R. Stewart

No	17
Date of Notice	24 December 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Thomas Gibbens	Jane Anderson
	💍 1908/2630
BDM Match (61%)	Donald Thomas Milne	Mary Jane Anderson
	💍 1908/568
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stockman	Domestic Duties
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Dobson, Brunnerton
Length of Residence	25 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mr. W. Anderson, Dobson, Brunnerton
Folio	08/7367
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Stewart

28 December 1908

Edgar James Low
Mary Inchuskie Dobson

Edgar James Low
Mary McLuskie
💍 1908/2628

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Domestic Duties

29
25

Kokiri
Brunnerton

9 years
23 years

Presbyterian Church, Brunnerton

08/7365

28 December 1908

Rev. R. McDowell

No	18
Date of Notice	28 December 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar James Low	Mary Inchuskie Dobson
BDM Match (76%)	Edgar James Low	Mary McLuskie
	💍 1908/2628
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Domestic Duties
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Kokiri	Brunnerton
Length of Residence	9 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Brunnerton
Folio	08/7365
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 December 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. McDowell

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).