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 877

District of Dannevirke Quarter ending 31 March 1909 Registrar Hugh Tilsley

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

2 January 1909

Ambrose William Elliott
Florence May Galbraith

Ambrose William Elliott
Florence May Galbraith
💍 1909/257

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmillhand

22
22

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

12 months
4 years

Presbyterian Church, Dannevirke

09/120

2 January 1909

Rev. A. Grant

No	1
Date of Notice	2 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ambrose William Elliott	Florence May Galbraith
	💍 1909/257
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmillhand
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	12 months	4 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dannevirke
Folio	09/120
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Grant

6 January 1909

Douglas Gerald Clark
Janet Urquhart Waugh

Douglas Gerald Clark
Janet Urquhart Waugh
💍 1909/258

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32
19

Dannevirke
Mangatoro

3 years
3 years

Residence of James Waugh

09/121

James Waugh, Father

6 January 1909

Rev. A. Grant

No	2
Date of Notice	6 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Douglas Gerald Clark	Janet Urquhart Waugh
	💍 1909/258
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	19
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Mangatoro
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of James Waugh
Folio	09/121
Consent	James Waugh, Father
Date of Certificate	6 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Grant

13 January 1909

Frederick Hugh Smith
Nellie May Deborah McIntosh

Frederick Hugh Smith
Nellie May Deborah McIntosh
💍 1909/1147

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

24
23

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

5 years
12 years

Anglican Church, Dannevirke

09/1042

13 January 1909

Rev. E. Robertshawe

No	3
Date of Notice	13 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Hugh Smith	Nellie May Deborah McIntosh
	💍 1909/1147
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	5 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Dannevirke
Folio	09/1042
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Robertshawe

16 January 1909

George Alexander Wilson
Emma Cecil Sorenson

George Alexander Wilson
Emma Cecil Sorenson
💍 1909/1146

Bachelor
Spinster

Cordial Maker

24
22

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

12 months
3 years

Anglican Church, Dannevirke

09/1041

16 January 1909

Rev. E. Robertshawe

No	4
Date of Notice	16 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Alexander Wilson	Emma Cecil Sorenson
	💍 1909/1146
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cordial Maker
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	12 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Dannevirke
Folio	09/1041
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Robertshawe

18 January 1909

Alfred Horace Hopewell
Florence Annie Honeysett

Alfred Horace Hopewell
Florence Annie Honeysett
💍 1909/1145

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Engineer

21
17

Dannevirke
Tahoraite

4 months
10 years

Residence of Mr. Geo. Alding, Dannevirke

09/1040

Annie Elizabeth Honeysett, Mother

18 January 1909

Rev. E. Robertshawe

No	5
Date of Notice	18 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Horace Hopewell	Florence Annie Honeysett
	💍 1909/1145
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Engineer
Age	21	17
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Tahoraite
Length of Residence	4 months	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Geo. Alding, Dannevirke
Folio	09/1040
Consent	Annie Elizabeth Honeysett, Mother
Date of Certificate	18 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Robertshawe

13 February 1909

Alfred James Down
Isabella Cameron

Alfred James Down
Isabella Cameron
💍 1909/1150

Andrew William Godbay
Isabella Cameron
💍 1909/8117

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

39
30

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

1 week
1 week

Registrar's Office, Dannevirke

09/1045

15 February 1909

H. Tilsley, Registrar

No	6
Date of Notice	13 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred James Down	Isabella Cameron
	💍 1909/1150
BDM Match (64%)	Andrew William Godbay	Isabella Cameron
	💍 1909/8117
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	39	30
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	1 week	1 week
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Dannevirke
Folio	09/1045
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1909
Officiating Minister	H. Tilsley, Registrar

3 March 1909

Frederick James Pierce
Ellen Gertrude Lynn

Frederick James Pierce
Ellen Gertrude Lynn
💍 1909/260

Bachelor
Spinster

Groom

22
21

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

2 months
5 months

Presbyterian Church, Dannevirke

09/122

3 March 1909

Rev. A. Grant

No	7
Date of Notice	3 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick James Pierce	Ellen Gertrude Lynn
	💍 1909/260
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Groom
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	2 months	5 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dannevirke
Folio	09/122
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Grant

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).