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 893

District of Hastings Quarter ending 30 June 1909 Registrar Robert Brathwaite

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

7 June 1909

Duncan McLean
Alice Maude Middleditch

Duncan McLean
Alice Maud Middleditch
💍 1909/7008

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic

39
29

Hastings
Hastings

7 years
2 years

Mr. McLean's house, Roy's Hill

09/2352

7 June 1909

Rev. P. Ramsay

No	47
Date of Notice	7 June 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Duncan McLean	Alice Maude Middleditch
BDM Match (98%)	Duncan McLean	Alice Maud Middleditch
	💍 1909/7008
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic
Age	39	29
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	7 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Mr. McLean's house, Roy's Hill
Folio	09/2352
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 June 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay

8 June 1909

George Thomas
Alice Elizabeth Gray

George Thomas
Alice Elizabeth Gray
💍 1909/7659

Widower
Widow

Cook
Housekeeper

49
50

Hastings
Hastings

16 years
2 years

Registrar's Office, Hastings

09/2369

8 June 1909

Robert Brathwaite

No	48
Date of Notice	8 June 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Thomas	Alice Elizabeth Gray
	💍 1909/7659
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Cook	Housekeeper
Age	49	50
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	16 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Hastings
Folio	09/2369
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 June 1909
Officiating Minister	Robert Brathwaite

8 June 1909

John Agnew
Evelyn Ritchie Hawthorne

John Agnew
Evelyn Ritchie Hawthorne
💍 1909/7009

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Household duties

26
25

Hastings
Hastings

7 years
4 years

Presbyterian Church

09/2353

8 June 1909

Rev. P. Ramsay

No	49
Date of Notice	8 June 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Agnew	Evelyn Ritchie Hawthorne
	💍 1909/7009
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Household duties
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	7 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	09/2353
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 June 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay

8 June 1909

William Frank Evans
Ruth Eleanor Somerville

William Frank Evans
Ruth Eleanor Somerville
💍 1909/7679

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Clerk

30
32

Havelock
Hastings

5 years
8 months

St. Matthew's, Hastings

09/2367

8 June 1909

Rev. J. C. Kayll

No	50
Date of Notice	8 June 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Frank Evans	Ruth Eleanor Somerville
	💍 1909/7679
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Clerk
Age	30	32
Dwelling Place	Havelock	Hastings
Length of Residence	5 years	8 months
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's, Hastings
Folio	09/2367
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 June 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Kayll

14 June 1909

Philip Charles Loomes
Agnes Woods

Philip Charles Loomes
Agnes Woods
💍 1909/7660

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

21
16 years 8 months

Hastings
Hastings

15 months
16 years 8 months

Registrar's Office, Hastings

09/2370

Thomas Woods, Father

14 June 1909

Robert Brathwaite

No	51
Date of Notice	14 June 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip Charles Loomes	Agnes Woods
	💍 1909/7660
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	21	16 years 8 months
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	15 months	16 years 8 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Hastings
Folio	09/2370
Consent	Thomas Woods, Father
Date of Certificate	14 June 1909
Officiating Minister	Robert Brathwaite

14 June 1909

Charles Hopkins
Ellen Haslie

Charles Hopkins
Ellen Hastie
💍 1909/7021

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

25
19

Hastings
Hastings

3 years
2 years

The House of Mr. Geo. Banks, Hastings

09/2349

Ellen Haslie, Mother

14 June 1909

Rev. W. Linsley

No	52
Date of Notice	14 June 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Hopkins	Ellen Haslie
BDM Match (96%)	Charles Hopkins	Ellen Hastie
	💍 1909/7021
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	The House of Mr. Geo. Banks, Hastings
Folio	09/2349
Consent	Ellen Haslie, Mother
Date of Certificate	14 June 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Linsley

23 June 1909

Frederic Symonds
Florence Annie Taylor

Frederic Symonds
Florence Annie Taylor
💍 1909/7020

Bachelor
Spinster

Worker in Wood
Domestic

32
20

Hastings
Hastings

22 years
20 years

Wesleyan Church, Hastings

09/2348

Martha Taylor, Mother

23 June 1909

Rev. W. Linsley

No	53
Date of Notice	23 June 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederic Symonds	Florence Annie Taylor
	💍 1909/7020
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Worker in Wood	Domestic
Age	32	20
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	22 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Hastings
Folio	09/2348
Consent	Martha Taylor, Mother
Date of Certificate	23 June 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Linsley

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).