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 015

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

12 January 1909

William Selverton Draquinks Cross
Constance Dela Awary

William Yelverton Frazuinho Cross
Constance Lela Awdry
💍 1909/247

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

21
17

Auckland
Auckland

6 years
4 years

Registrars Office, Auckland

09/84

Frederick Augustus Awary, father

12 January 1909

J. Culpan, Registrar

No	34
Date of Notice	12 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Selverton Draquinks Cross	Constance Dela Awary
BDM Match (87%)	William Yelverton Frazuinho Cross	Constance Lela Awdry
	💍 1909/247
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	21	17
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	6 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Auckland
Folio	09/84
Consent	Frederick Augustus Awary, father
Date of Certificate	12 January 1909
Officiating Minister	J. Culpan, Registrar

12 January 1909

John Emery Taylor
Rose Evelene Mclauchlan

John Emery Taylor
Rose Eveline McLauchlan
💍 1909/453

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Shunter

31
31

Auckland
Auckland

31 years

Primitive Methodist Church, New North Road

09/316

12 January 1909

Rev. W. H. Lyon, Primitive Methodist

No	38
Date of Notice	12 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Emery Taylor	Rose Evelene Mclauchlan
BDM Match (96%)	John Emery Taylor	Rose Eveline McLauchlan
	💍 1909/453
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Shunter
Age	31	31
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	31 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, New North Road
Folio	09/316
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Lyon, Primitive Methodist

12 January 1909

Ernest Bennett
Alexandra Borrall

Ernest Bennett
Alexandra Corrall
💍 1909/382

Bachelor
Spinster

Clicker

28
28

Auckland
Auckland

1 year
3 weeks

Epiphany Church, Newton

09/152

12 January 1909

Rev. W. R. Lush, Anglican

No	39
Date of Notice	12 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Bennett	Alexandra Borrall
BDM Match (97%)	Ernest Bennett	Alexandra Corrall
	💍 1909/382
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clicker
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 year	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Epiphany Church, Newton
Folio	09/152
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. R. Lush, Anglican

12 January 1909

Alexander McRae
Ellen White

Alexander McRae
Ellen White
💍 1909/224

Bachelor
Spinster

Brewer's Assistant

31
24

Auckland
Auckland

2 months
2 years

Registrars Office, Auckland

09/85

12 January 1909

J. Culpan, Registrar

No	40
Date of Notice	12 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander McRae	Ellen White
	💍 1909/224
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brewer's Assistant
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Auckland
Folio	09/85
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1909
Officiating Minister	J. Culpan, Registrar

13 January 1909

James Martin Elliot
May Mary Mulvihill

James Martin Elliott
May Mary Mulvihill
💍 1909/506

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver

24
24

Auckland
Auckland

4 days
24 years

St. Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland

09/419

13 January 1909

Rev. A. Meagher, Roman Catholic

No	41
Date of Notice	13 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Martin Elliot	May Mary Mulvihill
BDM Match (98%)	James Martin Elliott	May Mary Mulvihill
	💍 1909/506
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 days	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland
Folio	09/419
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Meagher, Roman Catholic

13 January 1909

William Oscar Cochrane
Maude May Waring

William Oscar Cochrane
Maude May Waring
💍 1909/226

Bachelor
Widow

Book

33
36

Auckland
Auckland

20 years
1 week

Registrars Office, Auckland

09/87

13 January 1909

J. Culpan, Registrar

No	42
Date of Notice	13 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Oscar Cochrane	Maude May Waring
	💍 1909/226
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Book
Age	33	36
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	20 years	1 week
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Auckland
Folio	09/87
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1909
Officiating Minister	J. Culpan, Registrar

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).