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 181

District of Pahiatua Quarter ending 31 March 1908 Registrar J. Fitzgerald

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

15 February 1908

Herbert Baker
Elena McCloskey

Herbert Baker
Elena McCloskey
💍 1908/776

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
nil

23
23

Ngaturi
Mangatainoka

6 weeks
12 months

R.C. Church, Pahiatua

08/758

15 February 1908

Rev. Thos. McKenna

No	9
Date of Notice	15 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Baker	Elena McCloskey
	💍 1908/776
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	nil
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Ngaturi	Mangatainoka
Length of Residence	6 weeks	12 months
Marriage Place	R.C. Church, Pahiatua
Folio	08/758
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. McKenna

26 February 1908

Charles August Neilson
Anastasia Victoria Pichaskie

Charles August Neilson
Anastasia Victoria Pickaskie
💍 1908/775

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
House-keeper

29
34

Ngaaturi
Ngaaturi

7 years
3 years

R.C. Church, Pahiatua

08/757

26 February 1908

Rev. John J. Kelly

No	10
Date of Notice	26 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles August Neilson	Anastasia Victoria Pichaskie
BDM Match (98%)	Charles August Neilson	Anastasia Victoria Pickaskie
	💍 1908/775
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	House-keeper
Age	29	34
Dwelling Place	Ngaaturi	Ngaaturi
Length of Residence	7 years	3 years
Marriage Place	R.C. Church, Pahiatua
Folio	08/757
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. John J. Kelly

9 March 1908

James Andrew Griffiths
Edith Blanche Gardner

James Andrew Griffiths
Edith Blanche Gardner
💍 1908/741

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill-hand
nil

24
22

Nikau
Nikau

6 years
6 years

Residence of Mr. Andrew Gardner, Nikau

08/746

9 March 1908

Mr. W. H. Speer

No	11
Date of Notice	9 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Andrew Griffiths	Edith Blanche Gardner
	💍 1908/741
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill-hand	nil
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Nikau	Nikau
Length of Residence	6 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Andrew Gardner, Nikau
Folio	08/746
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Mr. W. H. Speer

9 March 1908

Albert Charles Butterworth
Mary Eveline Bambury

Albert Charles Butterworth
Mary Eveline Bambury
💍 1908/743

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
nil

22
19

Mangatainoka
Mangatainoka

3 years
3 years

Residence of Mr. Peter Jensen, Mangatainoka

08/747

Elizabeth Ann Jensen, mother

9 March 1908

Mr W H Speer

No	12
Date of Notice	9 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Charles Butterworth	Mary Eveline Bambury
	💍 1908/743
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	nil
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Mangatainoka	Mangatainoka
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Peter Jensen, Mangatainoka
Folio	08/747
Consent	Elizabeth Ann Jensen, mother
Date of Certificate	9 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Mr W H Speer

25 March 1908

Henry Nelson Tipping
Helen Selina Manifold

Henry Nelson Tipping
Helen Selina Manifald
💍 1908/738

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
nil

19
17

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

3 days
8 years

Residence of Tom Wm. Manifold, Pahiatua

08/743

Jas. Tipping, father; Tom Wm Manifold, father

25 March 1908

Mr. Jno. S. Price

No	13
Date of Notice	25 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Nelson Tipping	Helen Selina Manifold
BDM Match (98%)	Henry Nelson Tipping	Helen Selina Manifald
	💍 1908/738
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	nil
Age	19	17
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	3 days	8 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Tom Wm. Manifold, Pahiatua
Folio	08/743
Consent	Jas. Tipping, father; Tom Wm Manifold, father
Date of Certificate	25 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Mr. Jno. S. Price

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).