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 705

District of Reefton Quarter ending 30 June 1908 Registrar Henry Smith

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

7 April 1908

Harry Hogg
Kate Louisa Clark

Harry Hogg
Kate Louisa Clarke
💍 1908/4756

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic Duties

28
26

Reefton
Reefton

4 years
20 years

St. Stephen's Anglican Church, Reefton

08/3233

7 April 1908

Rev. G. Quintrell

No	8
Date of Notice	7 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Hogg	Kate Louisa Clark
BDM Match (97%)	Harry Hogg	Kate Louisa Clarke
	💍 1908/4756
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic Duties
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Reefton
Length of Residence	4 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Stephen's Anglican Church, Reefton
Folio	08/3233
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Quintrell

15 April 1908

William Dean Smith
Jessie Elizabeth Ellis

William Dean Smith
Jessie Elizabeth Ellis
💍 1908/4757

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Domestic Duties

27
25

Reefton
Reefton

6 years
25 years

St. Stephen's Anglican Church, Reefton

08/3234

15 April 1908

Rev. G. Quintrell

No	9
Date of Notice	15 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Dean Smith	Jessie Elizabeth Ellis
	💍 1908/4757
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Domestic Duties
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Reefton
Length of Residence	6 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St. Stephen's Anglican Church, Reefton
Folio	08/3234
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Quintrell

16 April 1908

Ernest Taaffe
Alice Elizabeth Griffin

Ernest Taaffe
Alice Elizabeth Griffin
💍 1908/4755

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic Duties

24
20

Globe Hill
Globe Hill

1 year
16 years

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Reefton

08/3232

Edward Griffin, Father

16 April 1908

Henry Smith, Registrar

No	10
Date of Notice	16 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Taaffe	Alice Elizabeth Griffin
	💍 1908/4755
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic Duties
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Globe Hill	Globe Hill
Length of Residence	1 year	16 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Reefton
Folio	08/3232
Consent	Edward Griffin, Father
Date of Certificate	16 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Henry Smith, Registrar

27 April 1908

John C. Regan
Elizabeth Ellen McMahon

John O'Regan
Elizabeth Ellen McMahon
💍 1908/4753

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler
Domestic Duties

37
27

Cronadun
Cronadun

30 years
27 years

The Residence of B. McMahon, Cronadun

08/3230

27 April 1908

Rev. A. Galerne

No	11
Date of Notice	27 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John C. Regan	Elizabeth Ellen McMahon
BDM Match (88%)	John O'Regan	Elizabeth Ellen McMahon
	💍 1908/4753
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler	Domestic Duties
Age	37	27
Dwelling Place	Cronadun	Cronadun
Length of Residence	30 years	27 years
Marriage Place	The Residence of B. McMahon, Cronadun
Folio	08/3230
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Galerne

28 April 1908

William Philip Payne
Victoria Louisa Mary Gin

William Philip Payne
Victoria Louisa Mary Gin
💍 1908/4752

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Clerk
Domestic Duties

26
25

Greymouth
Reefton

3 days
25 years

Roman Catholic Church, Reefton

08/3229

28 April 1908

Rev. A. Galerne

No	12
Date of Notice	28 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Philip Payne	Victoria Louisa Mary Gin
	💍 1908/4752
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Reefton
Length of Residence	3 days	25 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Reefton
Folio	08/3229
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Galerne

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).