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 427

District of WELLINGTON Quarter ending 30 June 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

501

12 June 1908

Charles Ericsson
Jane Elizabeth Crisp

Charles Ericsson
Jane Elizabeth Crisp
💍 1908/4549

Divorced Decree absolute 3 February 1888
Widow 14 Nov 1885

Mariner

54
55

Wellington
Wellington

30 years
6 months

Residence of Mr. W. Dobson, Basin Reserve, Wellington

08/3013

12 June 1908

Rev. W. Shirer

No	501
Date of Notice	12 June 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Ericsson	Jane Elizabeth Crisp
	💍 1908/4549
Condition	Divorced Decree absolute 3 February 1888	Widow 14 Nov 1885
Profession	Mariner
Age	54	55
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	30 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. W. Dobson, Basin Reserve, Wellington
Folio	08/3013
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 June 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

502

13 June 1908

Harry Albun Hancock
Eva Marina Goodman

Harry Alban Hancock
Eva Marina Goodman
💍 1908/3900

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

29
18

Taita
Taita

22 years
11 years

Residence of Mr. W. H. Goodman, Taita

08/3772

William Henry Goodman (Father)

13 June 1908

Rev. A. Thomson

No	502
Date of Notice	13 June 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Albun Hancock	Eva Marina Goodman
BDM Match (97%)	Harry Alban Hancock	Eva Marina Goodman
	💍 1908/3900
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29	18
Dwelling Place	Taita	Taita
Length of Residence	22 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. W. H. Goodman, Taita
Folio	08/3772
Consent	William Henry Goodman (Father)
Date of Certificate	13 June 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Thomson

503

13 June 1908

Walter William Mills
Amy Hall

Walter William Mills
Amy Hall
💍 1908/6661

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter & Joiner

25
24

Wellington
Wellington

1 1./2 years
14 years

St. Thomas' Church, Wellington South

08/5220

13 June 1908

Rev. J. Walker

No	503
Date of Notice	13 June 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter William Mills	Amy Hall
	💍 1908/6661
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter & Joiner
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 1./2 years	14 years
Marriage Place	St. Thomas' Church, Wellington South
Folio	08/5220
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 June 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Walker

504

15 June 1908

George Thomas Pearson
Agnes Kerr Joyce

George Thomas Pearson
Agnes Kerr Joyce
💍 1908/4578

Bachelor
Spinster

Waiter

30
28

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
6 years

St. Andrew's Manse, Hill Street, Wellington

08/3019

15 June 1908

Rev. J. Gibson Smith

No	504
Date of Notice	15 June 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Thomas Pearson	Agnes Kerr Joyce
	💍 1908/4578
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Waiter
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Manse, Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	08/3019
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 June 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibson Smith

505

16 June 1908

Adam Yates
Mary Ethel Devine

Adam Yates
Mary Ethel Devine
💍 1908/4614

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver

29
27

Wellington
Whiteman's Valley

3 days
Life

Residence of Mr. T. J. Devine, Whiteman's Valley, Wellington

08/3083

16 June 1908

Rev. Richard Wilson

No	505
Date of Notice	16 June 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Adam Yates	Mary Ethel Devine
	💍 1908/4614
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Whiteman's Valley
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. T. J. Devine, Whiteman's Valley, Wellington
Folio	08/3083
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 June 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. Richard Wilson

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).