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 581

District of Rotorua Quarter ending 31 March 1909 Registrar Arthur Frederick Beur

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

13 January 1909

Fred Maxwell Lyons
Rato Beatrice Butt

Fred Maxwell Lyons
Rato Beatrice Butt
💍 1909/417

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic duties

28
22

Rotorua
Rotorua

a little over 2 years
about 15 years

St. Faith's Church, Ohinemutu

09/231

13 January 1909

Rev. Frederick Augustus Bennett

No	1
Date of Notice	13 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fred Maxwell Lyons	Rato Beatrice Butt
	💍 1909/417
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic duties
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	a little over 2 years	about 15 years
Marriage Place	St. Faith's Church, Ohinemutu
Folio	09/231
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. Frederick Augustus Bennett

23 January 1909

John Melville Guilding
Helen Gibson Fraser

John Melville Guilding
Helen Gibson Fraser
💍 1909/391

Bachelor
Widow

Timber Classer
Dressmaker

42
47

Mamaku
Mamaku

4 years
about 3 months

St. Luke's Church, Rotorua

09/155

23 January 1909

Rev. Charles Archibald Tisdall

No	2
Date of Notice	23 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Melville Guilding	Helen Gibson Fraser
	💍 1909/391
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Timber Classer	Dressmaker
Age	42	47
Dwelling Place	Mamaku	Mamaku
Length of Residence	4 years	about 3 months
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Rotorua
Folio	09/155
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. Charles Archibald Tisdall

3 February 1909

Edgar Waine Beckett
May Ellesley

Edgar Waine Beckett
May Ellesley
💍 1909/712

Bachelor
Spinster

Journalist
Domestic duties

26
23

Rotorua (present), Whakatane (usual)
Rotorua

3 days
about 4 months

Roman Catholic Church, Ohinemutu

09/353

3 February 1909

Very Rev. Dean Albert Lightheart

No	3
Date of Notice	3 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar Waine Beckett	May Ellesley
	💍 1909/712
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Journalist	Domestic duties
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Rotorua (present), Whakatane (usual)	Rotorua
Length of Residence	3 days	about 4 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Ohinemutu
Folio	09/353
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean Albert Lightheart

13 February 1909

Michael Maher
Aneta Pine

Michael Maher
Aneta Pine
💍 1909/713

Widower
Widow

Laborer
Domestic duties

39
30

Galatea
Galatea

17 years
about 30 years

Roman Catholic Church, at Galatea

09/354

13 February 1909

Rev. Henry John Wientjes

No	4
Date of Notice	13 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Maher	Aneta Pine
	💍 1909/713
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Laborer	Domestic duties
Age	39	30
Dwelling Place	Galatea	Galatea
Length of Residence	17 years	about 30 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, at Galatea
Folio	09/354
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. Henry John Wientjes

13 February 1909

Thomas Anderson
Turuhira

Thomas Anderson
Turuhira NR
💍 1909/714

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic duties

21
21

Galatea
Galatea, formerly Ruatoki

21 years
about 3 weeks

Roman Catholic Church, at Galatea

09/355

13 February 1909

Rev. Henry John Wientjes

No	5
Date of Notice	13 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Anderson	Turuhira
BDM Match (86%)	Thomas Anderson	Turuhira NR
	💍 1909/714
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic duties
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Galatea	Galatea, formerly Ruatoki
Length of Residence	21 years	about 3 weeks
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, at Galatea
Folio	09/355
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. Henry John Wientjes

14 February 1909

Alexander Baird
Margaret Jane McCauley

Alexander Baird
Margaret Jane McConly
💍 1909/715

Bachelor
Spinster

Coach driver
Barmaid

38
30

Rotorua
Rotorua

3 months
8 days

Roman Catholic Church, at Rotorua

09/356

17 February 1909

Very Rev. Dean Albert Lightheart

No	6
Date of Notice	14 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Baird	Margaret Jane McCauley
BDM Match (93%)	Alexander Baird	Margaret Jane McConly
	💍 1909/715
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coach driver	Barmaid
Age	38	30
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	3 months	8 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, at Rotorua
Folio	09/356
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean Albert Lightheart

1 March 1909

Ereatara Eruini
Ani Kanara Wikiriwhi

Ereatara Eruini
Ani Karara Wikiriwhi
💍 1909/6418

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic duties

26
21

Ohinemutu
Ohinemutu

2 years
2 years

St. Faith's Church, Ohinemutu

09/8027

Bennett

No	7
Date of Notice	1 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ereatara Eruini	Ani Kanara Wikiriwhi
BDM Match (98%)	Ereatara Eruini	Ani Karara Wikiriwhi
	💍 1909/6418
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic duties
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Ohinemutu	Ohinemutu
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Faith's Church, Ohinemutu
Folio	09/8027
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Bennett

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).