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 201

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 30 June 1908 Registrar Robt. N. Keeling

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 June 1908

Neil Campbell
Gertrude Alice Paul

Neil Campbell
Gertrude Alice Rank
💍 1908/5721

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

27 years
20 years

Aorangi
Rangitikei Road, Palmerston North

27 years
14 years

At the house of Samuel Paul, Rangitikei Road

08/4261

Samuel Paul, father

5 June 1908

Rev. Isaac Jolly, Presbyterian Minister, Palmerston North

No	71
Date of Notice	5 June 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Neil Campbell	Gertrude Alice Paul
BDM Match (92%)	Neil Campbell	Gertrude Alice Rank
	💍 1908/5721
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	27 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Aorangi	Rangitikei Road, Palmerston North
Length of Residence	27 years	14 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Samuel Paul, Rangitikei Road
Folio	08/4261
Consent	Samuel Paul, father
Date of Certificate	5 June 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. Isaac Jolly, Presbyterian Minister, Palmerston North

2 June 1908

Charles Edwin Weston
Eva Evelyn Brougham

Charles Edwin Weston
Eva Evelyn Brougham
💍 1908/4298

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Dressmaker

25 years
21 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

6 years
9 years

Office of the Registrar, Palmerston North

08/2731

2 June 1908

Robt. N. Keeling, Registrar, Palmerston North

No	72
Date of Notice	2 June 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edwin Weston	Eva Evelyn Brougham
	💍 1908/4298
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Dressmaker
Age	25 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	6 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Palmerston North
Folio	08/2731
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1908
Officiating Minister	Robt. N. Keeling, Registrar, Palmerston North

3 June 1908

Albert Danby Brayshaw
Eva Lillian Lunn

Albert Danby Brayshaw
Eva Lilian Lunn
💍 1908/2328

Bachelor
Spinster

Cook

25 years
18 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
15 years

House of Francis Henry Lunn

08/2753

Francis Henry Lunn, father

3 June 1908

Rev. F. Macdonald, Baptist Minister, Palmerston North

No	73
Date of Notice	3 June 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Danby Brayshaw	Eva Lillian Lunn
BDM Match (97%)	Albert Danby Brayshaw	Eva Lilian Lunn
	💍 1908/2328
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cook
Age	25 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	15 years
Marriage Place	House of Francis Henry Lunn
Folio	08/2753
Consent	Francis Henry Lunn, father
Date of Certificate	3 June 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Macdonald, Baptist Minister, Palmerston North

8 June 1908

Lawrence William Hanlon
Winifred Mary Stagpoole

Laurence William Hanlen
Winifred M Stagpoole
💍 1908/2312

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Clerk

25 years
23 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 years
6 years

St. Patrick's Church, Palmerston North

08/2760

8 June 1908

Rev. P. C. Costello, Catholic Priest, Palmerston North

No	74
Date of Notice	8 June 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lawrence William Hanlon	Winifred Mary Stagpoole
BDM Match (89%)	Laurence William Hanlen	Winifred M Stagpoole
	💍 1908/2312
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Clerk
Age	25 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Palmerston North
Folio	08/2760
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 June 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. C. Costello, Catholic Priest, Palmerston North

13 June 1908

Ernest Albert Fearnley
Esther Peters

Ernest Albert Fearnley
Esther Peters
💍 1908/5723

Bachelor
Widow

Waiter
Boarding House Keeper

34 years
37 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

12 years
16 years

House of Esther Peters, Palmerston North

08/4263

13 June 1908

Rev. Isaac Jolly, Presbyterian Minister, Palmerston North

No	75
Date of Notice	13 June 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Albert Fearnley	Esther Peters
	💍 1908/5723
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Waiter	Boarding House Keeper
Age	34 years	37 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	12 years	16 years
Marriage Place	House of Esther Peters, Palmerston North
Folio	08/4263
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 June 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. Isaac Jolly, Presbyterian Minister, Palmerston North

18 June 1908

John Henry Hall
Myrtle Irene Maud Farley

John Henry Hall
Myrtle Irene Maud Farley
💍 1908/5722

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

20 years
16 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
2 months

St. Andrew's Church, Palmerston North

08/4262

Caroline Robertson, mother; William Hall, father

18 June 1908

Rev. Isaac Jolly, Presbyterian Minister, Palmerston North

No	76
Date of Notice	18 June 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Hall	Myrtle Irene Maud Farley
	💍 1908/5722
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	20 years	16 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	2 months
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church, Palmerston North
Folio	08/4262
Consent	Caroline Robertson, mother; William Hall, father
Date of Certificate	18 June 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. Isaac Jolly, Presbyterian Minister, Palmerston North

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).