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 064

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1909 Registrar Thomas Cuepan

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

339

31 March 1909

Duncan Colin Macfarquhar
Ella Georgina Sutherland

Duncan Colin Macfarquhar
Ella Georgina Sutherland
💍 1909/7383

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

22
21

Auckland
Onehunga

10 years
21 years

House of Mr. C. Schauer

09/1944

31 March 1909

Rev. D. Scott, Presbyterian

No	339
Date of Notice	31 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Duncan Colin Macfarquhar	Ella Georgina Sutherland
	💍 1909/7383
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Onehunga
Length of Residence	10 years	21 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. C. Schauer
Folio	09/1944
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Scott, Presbyterian

340

31 March 1909

Robert Hastings McKenzie
Josephine Amelia McKenzie

Robert Hastings
Josephine Amelia McKenzie
💍 1909/7416

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer

35
30

Auckland
Auckland

20 years
2 1/2 years

St. Andrew's Church

09/1901

31 March 1909

Rev. A. A. Murray, Presbyterian

No	340
Date of Notice	31 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Hastings McKenzie	Josephine Amelia McKenzie
BDM Match (81%)	Robert Hastings	Josephine Amelia McKenzie
	💍 1909/7416
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer
Age	35	30
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	20 years	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church
Folio	09/1901
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. A. Murray, Presbyterian

341

31 March 1909

Walter Edward Gilbert
Ida Mary Rowe

Walter Edward Gilbert
Ida May Rowe
💍 1909/6833

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

23
22

Auckland
Epsom

5 years
22 years

Anglican Church

09/1840

31 March 1909

Rev. G. W. Walker, Anglican

No	341
Date of Notice	31 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Edward Gilbert	Ida Mary Rowe
BDM Match (96%)	Walter Edward Gilbert	Ida May Rowe
	💍 1909/6833
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Epsom
Length of Residence	5 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church
Folio	09/1840
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Walker, Anglican

342

31 March 1909

Joseph John Bennett
Estella Eugenia Innes

Joseph John Bennett
Estella Eugenia Innes
💍 1909/7377

Bachelor
Divorced

Providore

26
31

Auckland
Auckland

6 years
31 years

Registrar's Office

09/1761

31 March 1909

Mr. Cuepan, Registrar

No	342
Date of Notice	31 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph John Bennett	Estella Eugenia Innes
	💍 1909/7377
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced
Profession	Providore
Age	26	31
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	6 years	31 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	09/1761
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Mr. Cuepan, Registrar

343

31 March 1909

Thomas Hall Johnston
Eliza Johnston

Thomas Hall
Eliza Johnston
💍 1909/6587

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

27
20

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
5 years

Registrar's Office

09/511

Frances Johnston, mother

31 March 1909

Mr. Cuepan, Registrar

No	343
Date of Notice	31 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Hall Johnston	Eliza Johnston
BDM Match (78%)	Thomas Hall	Eliza Johnston
	💍 1909/6587
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	09/511
Consent	Frances Johnston, mother
Date of Certificate	31 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Mr. Cuepan, Registrar

344

31 March 1909

Charles John Halke
Margaret Fannie Lowe

Charles John Halke
Margaret Fanny Lane
💍 1909/4496

Widower
Spinster

Clerk

36
35

Auckland
Onehunga

2 years
1 week

Home of Father of Bride, Onehunga

09/5860

31 March 1909

Rev. E. E. Budd, Anglican

No	344
Date of Notice	31 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles John Halke	Margaret Fannie Lowe
BDM Match (90%)	Charles John Halke	Margaret Fanny Lane
	💍 1909/4496
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	36	35
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Onehunga
Length of Residence	2 years	1 week
Marriage Place	Home of Father of Bride, Onehunga
Folio	09/5860
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. E. Budd, 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).