Intentions to Marry, 1909 Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840439, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1909 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1909a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1909b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1909c).

Page 011

District of AUCKLAND Quarter ending 31 March 1909 Registrar THOMAS CULPAN

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

4 January 1909

William Leonard Pearson
Annie May Williams

William Leonard Pearson
Annie Williams
💍 1909/508

Bachelor
Spinster

Cook

24
26

Auckland
Auckland

20 years
1 year

St Patrick's Cathedral

09/420

4 January 1909

Rev. M. Meagher, Roman Catholic

No	13
Date of Notice	4 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Leonard Pearson	Annie May Williams
BDM Match (89%)	William Leonard Pearson	Annie Williams
	💍 1909/508
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cook
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	20 years	1 year
Marriage Place	St Patrick's Cathedral
Folio	09/420
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Meagher, Roman Catholic

4 January 1909

John Sanders McKeown
Millicent Dixon

John Sanders McKeown
Millicent Dixon
💍 1909/290

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

34
24

Auckland
Eden St.

3 days
3 weeks

House of N. A. Morris

09/129

4 January 1909

Rev. W. A. Pather, Primitive Methodist

No	14
Date of Notice	4 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Sanders McKeown	Millicent Dixon
	💍 1909/290
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Eden St.
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	House of N. A. Morris
Folio	09/129
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Pather, Primitive Methodist

4 January 1909

George Leslie Adams
Hilda Woodburn Holland

George Leslie Adams
Hilda Woodburn Holland
💍 1909/526

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

22
19

Auckland
Grey Lynn

22 years
19 years

House of Martha Holland, Rose Road

09/389

Martha Holland, Mother of bride

4 January 1909

Rev. R. L. Walker, Presbyterian

No	15
Date of Notice	4 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Leslie Adams	Hilda Woodburn Holland
	💍 1909/526
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Grey Lynn
Length of Residence	22 years	19 years
Marriage Place	House of Martha Holland, Rose Road
Folio	09/389
Consent	Martha Holland, Mother of bride
Date of Certificate	4 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. L. Walker, Presbyterian

8 January 1909

Robert Archibald Rew
Minnie Newman

Robert Archibald Rew
Minnie Newman
💍 1909/388

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

28
24

Auckland
Helensville

28 years
24 years

Church of England, Helensville

09/175

8 January 1909

Rev. K. W. P. Yeale, Anglican

No	16
Date of Notice	8 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Archibald Rew	Minnie Newman
	💍 1909/388
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Helensville
Length of Residence	28 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Helensville
Folio	09/175
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. K. W. P. Yeale, Anglican

8 January 1909

Freddy Metcalfe
Diana Eynon

Freddy Metcalfe
Diana Eynon
💍 1909/283

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

27
21

Auckland
Auckland

2 years
4 months

St David's Manse, Khyber Pass

09/145

8 January 1909

Rev. W. G. Dixon, Presbyterian

No	17
Date of Notice	8 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Freddy Metcalfe	Diana Eynon
	💍 1909/283
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	4 months
Marriage Place	St David's Manse, Khyber Pass
Folio	09/145
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Dixon, Presbyterian

8 January 1909

David William Jones
Elizabeth Long

David William Jones
Elizabeth Long
💍 1909/474

Widower
Widow

School Teacher

47
44

Auckland
Auckland

1 day
3 days

St Sepulchre's Church, Papakura

09/337

8 January 1909

Rev. H. Reeve, Anglican

No	18
Date of Notice	8 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David William Jones	Elizabeth Long
	💍 1909/474
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	School Teacher
Age	47	44
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 day	3 days
Marriage Place	St Sepulchre's Church, Papakura
Folio	09/337
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Reeve, Anglican

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).