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 661

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 March 1909 Registrar William H. Rolts

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

27 February 1909

Herbert Edward Buckley
Metta Cordes

Hubert Edward Buckley
Martha Sophy Cordes
💍 1909/582

Bachelor
Spinster

Boiler maker
Dressmaker

27
25

Thames
Thames

2 days
25 years

Church of England, Mackay Street, Thames

09/474

1 March 1909

Dr O'Callaghan, Church of England

No	13
Date of Notice	27 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Edward Buckley	Metta Cordes
BDM Match (72%)	Hubert Edward Buckley	Martha Sophy Cordes
	💍 1909/582
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boiler maker	Dressmaker
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 days	25 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Mackay Street, Thames
Folio	09/474
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Dr O'Callaghan, Church of England

6 March 1909

William James Owens
Elizabeth Ann Watson

William James Owens
Elizabeth Ann Watson
💍 1909/408

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

22
17

Thames
Thames

3 days
3 days

In the Registrar's Office, Mary Street, Thames

09/24

Robert Howard Watson, Father

6 March 1909

Mr W. H. Potts, Registrar

No	14
Date of Notice	6 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Owens	Elizabeth Ann Watson
	💍 1909/408
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	22	17
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the Registrar's Office, Mary Street, Thames
Folio	09/24
Consent	Robert Howard Watson, Father
Date of Certificate	6 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Mr W. H. Potts, Registrar

9 March 1909

Arthur Edward Gaville
Margaret Louisa Maxwell

Arthur Edward Faville
Margaret Louisa Maxwell
💍 1909/467

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman, N.Z.R.
Domestic duties

22
20

Thames
Matatoki

2 weeks
19 years

In the house of Mr Maxwell, Matatoki

09/306

Alexander Scott Maxwell, Father

9 March 1909

Rev. J. Blight, Methodist Church of Australasia

No	15
Date of Notice	9 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Edward Gaville	Margaret Louisa Maxwell
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur Edward Faville	Margaret Louisa Maxwell
	💍 1909/467
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman, N.Z.R.	Domestic duties
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Thames	Matatoki
Length of Residence	2 weeks	19 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr Maxwell, Matatoki
Folio	09/306
Consent	Alexander Scott Maxwell, Father
Date of Certificate	9 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Blight, Methodist Church of Australasia

17 March 1909

Ernest William Hosking
Ann Radford

Ernest William Hosking
Ann Radford
💍 1909/468

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Domestic duties

30
34

Thames
Thames

30 years
34 years

Methodist Church of Australasia, Thames

09/307

17 March 1909

Rev. J. Blight, Methodist Church of Australasia

No	16
Date of Notice	17 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest William Hosking	Ann Radford
	💍 1909/468
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Domestic duties
Age	30	34
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	30 years	34 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church of Australasia, Thames
Folio	09/307
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Blight, Methodist Church of Australasia

29 March 1909

Alfred Parrish
Ada Beatrice Taylor

Alfred Parrish
Ada Beatrice Taylor
💍 1909/373

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

24
20

Thames
Thames

1 day
20 years

In the House of Mr J. Taylor, Pollen Street, Thames

09/16

Thomas Taylor, Father

30 March 1909

Rev. W. H. Hinton, Baptiste

No	17
Date of Notice	29 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Parrish	Ada Beatrice Taylor
	💍 1909/373
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	1 day	20 years
Marriage Place	In the House of Mr J. Taylor, Pollen Street, Thames
Folio	09/16
Consent	Thomas Taylor, Father
Date of Certificate	30 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Hinton, Baptiste

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).