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 626

District of Te aroha Quarter ending 30 June 1909 Registrar John George Beswick

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

Frederick William Wild
Leila Adelaide Jennings

Frederick William Wild
Leila Adelaide Jennings
💍 1909/7607

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Shop assistant

37
23

Te aroha
Te Aroha

20 years
23 years

St Marks Church Te aroha

09/2176

10 April 1909

Rev. P. Cleary Anglican

No	28
Date of Notice	10 April 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Wild	Leila Adelaide Jennings
	💍 1909/7607
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Shop assistant
Age	37	23
Dwelling Place	Te aroha	Te Aroha
Length of Residence	20 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St Marks Church Te aroha
Folio	09/2176
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 April 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Cleary Anglican

19 April 1909

William John Holmes Junr
Margaret Ellen Carmichael

William John Holmes
Margaret Ellen Carmichael
💍 1909/7604

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Housework

27
20

Te aroha
Manawaru

4 days
6 years

In the dwelling (Matamata) of William Carmichael

09/1773

Carmichael Father

19 April 1909

Rev. W. C. Blair Presbyterian

No	29
Date of Notice	19 April 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Holmes Junr	Margaret Ellen Carmichael
BDM Match (90%)	William John Holmes	Margaret Ellen Carmichael
	💍 1909/7604
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Housework
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Te aroha	Manawaru
Length of Residence	4 days	6 years
Marriage Place	In the dwelling (Matamata) of William Carmichael
Folio	09/1773
Consent	Carmichael Father
Date of Certificate	19 April 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. C. Blair Presbyterian

26 April 1909

John Adolphus Slade
Maria Heartready

John Adolphus Slade
Maria Hartneady
💍 1909/2985

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Housemaid

26
24

Te Aroha
Te Aroha

3 days
10 Months

In the Roman Catholic Church (Hamilton)

09/4182

26 April 1909

Rev James McGuinness Roman Catholic

No	30
Date of Notice	26 April 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Adolphus Slade	Maria Heartready
BDM Match (94%)	John Adolphus Slade	Maria Hartneady
	💍 1909/2985
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Housemaid
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Te Aroha	Te Aroha
Length of Residence	3 days	10 Months
Marriage Place	In the Roman Catholic Church (Hamilton)
Folio	09/4182
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 April 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev James McGuinness Roman Catholic

29 May 1909

Philip Moore
Amy Christina Spence

Philip Moore
Amy Christina Spence
💍 1909/7584

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor

32
24

Nelson
Te aroha

32 years
12 Months

Anglican Church Te aroha

09/2177

29 May 1909

Rev. P. Cleary Anglican

No	31
Date of Notice	29 May 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip Moore	Amy Christina Spence
	💍 1909/7584
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Te aroha
Length of Residence	32 years	12 Months
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Te aroha
Folio	09/2177
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Cleary Anglican

9 June 1909

George Thomas Newsome
Edith Mary Chapman

George Thomas Newsome
Edith Mary Chapman
💍 1909/7605

Divorced
Spinster

Tailor
Domestic

38
29

Te aroha
Gordon Settlement

3 days
8 Months

Presbyterian Church Te aroha

09/2174

9 June 1909

Rev. W. C. Blair Presbyterian

No	32
Date of Notice	9 June 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Thomas Newsome	Edith Mary Chapman
	💍 1909/7605
Condition	Divorced	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Domestic
Age	38	29
Dwelling Place	Te aroha	Gordon Settlement
Length of Residence	3 days	8 Months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Te aroha
Folio	09/2174
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 June 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. C. Blair Presbyterian

14 June 1909

Ernest Octavius Nash
Jane Gladys Mae Holden

Ernest Octavius Nash
Gladys Mae Holden
💍 1909/7585

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

50
21

Te aroha
Te aroha

6 years
7 years

Anglican Church Te aroha

09/2178

14 June 1909

Rev. P. Cleary Anglican

No	33
Date of Notice	14 June 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Octavius Nash	Jane Gladys Mae Holden
BDM Match (89%)	Ernest Octavius Nash	Gladys Mae Holden
	💍 1909/7585
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	50	21
Dwelling Place	Te aroha	Te aroha
Length of Residence	6 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Te aroha
Folio	09/2178
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 June 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Cleary Anglican

19 June 1909

Arthur Ethelbert Mikkelsen
Amy Peterson

Arthur Ethelbert Mikkelsen
Amy Peterson
💍 1909/7586

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

33
23

Waihou
Manawaru

27 years
10 years

Anglican Church Aratiatia (Now Known as Manawaru)

09/2179

19 June 1909

Rev. P. Cleary Anglican

No	34
Date of Notice	19 June 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Ethelbert Mikkelsen	Amy Peterson
	💍 1909/7586
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Waihou	Manawaru
Length of Residence	27 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Aratiatia (Now Known as Manawaru)
Folio	09/2179
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 June 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Cleary 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).