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 496

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1908 Registrar G. G. 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

826

20 October 1908

John Coffey
Eileen Minihan

John Coffey
Eileen Minihan
💍 1908/2487

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

23
23

Lower Hutt
Wellington

life
7 years

Sacred Heart Basilica, Wellington

08/7206

20 October 1908

Rev. J. P. Hickson

No	826
Date of Notice	20 October 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Coffey	Eileen Minihan
	💍 1908/2487
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Wellington
Length of Residence	life	7 years
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Basilica, Wellington
Folio	08/7206
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. P. Hickson

827

21 October 1908

George Haskell
Mary Scott

George Haskill
Mary Scott
💍 1908/2439

Widower (15 April 1906)
Widow (8 March 1899)

Decorator

56
65

Wellington
Wellington

6 years
12 years

Residence of Rev. J. K. Elliott, 25 Pirie Street, Wellington

08/7142

21 October 1908

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	827
Date of Notice	21 October 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Haskell	Mary Scott
BDM Match (96%)	George Haskill	Mary Scott
	💍 1908/2439
Condition	Widower (15 April 1906)	Widow (8 March 1899)
Profession	Decorator
Age	56	65
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. J. K. Elliott, 25 Pirie Street, Wellington
Folio	08/7142
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 October 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

828

21 October 1908

William David Simmonds
Ethel Martha Ackroyd

William David Simmonds
Ethel Martha Ackroyd
💍 1908/2525

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Hand

27
26

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
life

Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington

08/7236

21 October 1908

Rev. S. J. Serpell

No	828
Date of Notice	21 October 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William David Simmonds	Ethel Martha Ackroyd
	💍 1908/2525
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Hand
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	life
Marriage Place	Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington
Folio	08/7236
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 October 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. J. Serpell

829

22 October 1908

Thomas Breedon
Ellen Rosetta Sergent Shadbolt

Thomas Breadon
Ellen Rosetta Sargent Shadbolt
💍 1908/2446

Bachelor
Spinster

Brickmaker

23
21

Wellington
Wellington South

5 years
life

St. James Presbyterian Manse, Wellington South

08/7143

22 October 1908

Rev. W. Shirer

No	829
Date of Notice	22 October 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Breedon	Ellen Rosetta Sergent Shadbolt
BDM Match (95%)	Thomas Breadon	Ellen Rosetta Sargent Shadbolt
	💍 1908/2446
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brickmaker
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington South
Length of Residence	5 years	life
Marriage Place	St. James Presbyterian Manse, Wellington South
Folio	08/7143
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 October 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

830

22 October 1908

William George Bryce
Florence Maud Graham

William George Bryce
Florence Maud Graham
💍 1908/2526

Bachelor
Spinster

Billiard Table Maker

27
25

Wellington
Wellington

1 1/2 years
1 day

Trinity Methodist Church, Wellington South

08/7237

22 October 1908

Rev. W. J. Williams

No	830
Date of Notice	22 October 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Bryce	Florence Maud Graham
	💍 1908/2526
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Billiard Table Maker
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 1/2 years	1 day
Marriage Place	Trinity Methodist Church, Wellington South
Folio	08/7237
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 October 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Williams

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).