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 584

District of ROTORUA Quarter ending 30 June 1909 Registrar Arthur Frederick Bew

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

10 April 1909

George Evelyn Adams
Edith Annie Sabrie Pasley

George Evelyn Adams
Edith Annie Sabine Pasley
💍 1909/1370

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic duties

29
28

Ponsonby, Auckland
Rotorua

about 25 years
about 1 1/2 years

St. Luke's Church, Rotorua

09/2157

10 April 1909

Rev. C. A. Liddell

No	9
Date of Notice	10 April 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Evelyn Adams	Edith Annie Sabrie Pasley
BDM Match (96%)	George Evelyn Adams	Edith Annie Sabine Pasley
	💍 1909/1370
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic duties
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Ponsonby, Auckland	Rotorua
Length of Residence	about 25 years	about 1 1/2 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Rotorua
Folio	09/2157
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 April 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Liddell

13 April 1909

Benjamin Hawkins Washer
Ellen Elizabeth Hammond

Benjamin Hawkins Washer
Ellen Elizabeth Hammond
💍 1909/1371

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

24
28

Rotorua (present), Te Puke (former)
Rotorua

3 days
about 5 years

St. Luke's Church, Rotorua

09/2158

13 April 1909

Rev. C. A. Liddell

No	10
Date of Notice	13 April 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin Hawkins Washer	Ellen Elizabeth Hammond
	💍 1909/1371
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	24	28
Dwelling Place	Rotorua (present), Te Puke (former)	Rotorua
Length of Residence	3 days	about 5 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Rotorua
Folio	09/2158
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Liddell

24 April 1909

Martin Rauner
Annie Karl

Martin Rauner
Annie Karl
💍 1909/1378

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic duties

32
24

Puhoi
Otorohanga

3 days
about 1 month

Roman Catholic Church, Mamaku

09/2164

24 April 1909

Rev. H. J. Wientjes

No	11
Date of Notice	24 April 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Rauner	Annie Karl
	💍 1909/1378
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic duties
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Puhoi	Otorohanga
Length of Residence	3 days	about 1 month
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Mamaku
Folio	09/2164
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 April 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Wientjes

26 April 1909

William Goldie Cave France
Maud Hawken

William Goldie Cave France
Mabel Hawken
💍 1909/1372

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Official
Domestic duties

42
38

Wellington
Waipani

4 days
5 days

St. Luke's Church, Rotorua

09/2159

26 April 1909

Rev. C. A. Liddell

No	12
Date of Notice	26 April 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Goldie Cave France	Maud Hawken
BDM Match (88%)	William Goldie Cave France	Mabel Hawken
	💍 1909/1372
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Official	Domestic duties
Age	42	38
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Waipani
Length of Residence	4 days	5 days
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Rotorua
Folio	09/2159
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 April 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Liddell

3 May 1909

Charles Henry Wrathall
Charlotte Wicks

Charles Henry Wrathall
Charlotte Wicks
💍 1909/1377

Bachelor
Spinster

Coach driver
Domestic duties

25
20

Rotorua
Rotorua

3 years
18 months

Wesleyan Church, Rotorua

09/2163

Wicks, father of bride

3 May 1909

Rev. N. A. G. Keck

No	13
Date of Notice	3 May 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Wrathall	Charlotte Wicks
	💍 1909/1377
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coach driver	Domestic duties
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	3 years	18 months
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Rotorua
Folio	09/2163
Consent	Wicks, father of bride
Date of Certificate	3 May 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. N. A. G. Keck

7 May 1909

John Gibson Buckthought
Caroline Hammond

John Gibson Buckthought
Caroline Hammond
💍 1909/1373

Widower
Widow

Boarding-housekeeper
Domestic duties

53
52

Rotorua
Rotorua

8 years 9 months
over 5 years

St. Luke's Church, Rotorua

09/2160

7 May 1909

Rev. C. A. Liddell

No	14
Date of Notice	7 May 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Gibson Buckthought	Caroline Hammond
	💍 1909/1373
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Boarding-housekeeper	Domestic duties
Age	53	52
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	8 years 9 months	over 5 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Rotorua
Folio	09/2160
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 May 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Liddell

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).