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 025

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

25 January 1909

Claude Victor Bartley
Catherine Tooher

Claude Victor Bartley
Catherine Tooher
💍 1909/642

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger

27
24

Auckland
Auckland

27 years
5 years

House of Mr W. G. Allen, Devonport

09/512

25 January 1909

Rev. M. J. Furlong, Roman Catholic

No	85
Date of Notice	25 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Claude Victor Bartley	Catherine Tooher
	💍 1909/642
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	27 years	5 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr W. G. Allen, Devonport
Folio	09/512
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. J. Furlong, Roman Catholic

25 January 1909

Alfred Ernest Stone
Annie Bennett

Alfred Ernest Stone
Annie Bennett
💍 1909/644

Bachelor
Spinster

School Teacher

23
22

Auckland
Auckland

23 years
6 weeks

Methodist Church, Newmarket

09/514

25 January 1909

Rev. W. R. Tuck, Methodist

No	86
Date of Notice	25 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Ernest Stone	Annie Bennett
	💍 1909/644
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School Teacher
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	23 years	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Newmarket
Folio	09/514
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. R. Tuck, Methodist

25 January 1909

Louis Eleazer Glass
Esther Welford

Louis Eleazor Glass
Esther Wilford
💍 1909/193

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor

24
22

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
10 years

Hebrew Synagogue, Auckland

09/3982

25 January 1909

Rev. S. A. Goldstein

No	87
Date of Notice	25 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Louis Eleazer Glass	Esther Welford
BDM Match (94%)	Louis Eleazor Glass	Esther Wilford
	💍 1909/193
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	10 years
Marriage Place	Hebrew Synagogue, Auckland
Folio	09/3982
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. A. Goldstein

25 January 1909

Sydney William Arthur Bourne
Mabel Rowe

Sydney William Arthur Bourne
Mabel Rowe
💍 1909/252

Bachelor
Spinster

Decorator

27
22

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
22 years

Sacred Heart Church, Ponsonby

09/115

25 January 1909

Rev. M. Edge, Roman Catholic

No	88
Date of Notice	25 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney William Arthur Bourne	Mabel Rowe
	💍 1909/252
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Decorator
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Church, Ponsonby
Folio	09/115
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Edge, Roman Catholic

26 January 1909

Charles Francis John Biggs
Rosie Anderson Russell

Charles Francis John Biggs
Rosie Anderson Russell
💍 1909/265

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder

30
30

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
30 years

House of Father of Bride, Ponsonby

09/104

26 January 1909

Rev. A. M. Caldwell, Presbyterian

No	89
Date of Notice	26 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Francis John Biggs	Rosie Anderson Russell
	💍 1909/265
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	30 years
Marriage Place	House of Father of Bride, Ponsonby
Folio	09/104
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Caldwell, Presbyterian

26 January 1909

John Andrew Armstrong
Ethel May Rickit

John Andrew Armstrong
Ethel May Rickit
💍 1909/552

Bachelor
Spinster

Boilermaker

30
28

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
3 weeks

House of Rev. M. Walker, Wellington Street, Auckland

09/445

26 January 1909

Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

No	90
Date of Notice	26 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Andrew Armstrong	Ethel May Rickit
	💍 1909/552
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boilermaker
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	House of Rev. M. Walker, Wellington Street, Auckland
Folio	09/445
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

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).