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 673

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 September 1909 Registrar William A. Potts

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

17 August 1909

George Allan MacMillan
Lucy Isabel White

George Allan McMillan
Lucy Isabel White
💍 1909/3129

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Domestic duties

25
18

Thames
Thames

8 years
12 years

In the house of Mrs. M. A. White, Fenton Street, Thames

09/4204

Mary White, Mother

17 August 1909

E. H. Taylor, Church of Christ

No	53
Date of Notice	17 August 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Allan MacMillan	Lucy Isabel White
BDM Match (98%)	George Allan McMillan	Lucy Isabel White
	💍 1909/3129
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Domestic duties
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	8 years	12 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs. M. A. White, Fenton Street, Thames
Folio	09/4204
Consent	Mary White, Mother
Date of Certificate	17 August 1909
Officiating Minister	E. H. Taylor, Church of Christ

27 August 1909

Thomas Elleray
Frances Mary Baristock Dench

Thomas Elleray
Frances Mary Buvistock Dench
💍 1909/3131

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer
Domestic duties

46
33

Thames
Thames

8 years
3 years

St. Georges Church, Mackay St., Thames

09/4206

27 August 1909

Dr. O'Callaghan, Church of England

No	54
Date of Notice	27 August 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Elleray	Frances Mary Baristock Dench
BDM Match (96%)	Thomas Elleray	Frances Mary Buvistock Dench
	💍 1909/3131
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer	Domestic duties
Age	46	33
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	8 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Georges Church, Mackay St., Thames
Folio	09/4206
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 August 1909
Officiating Minister	Dr. O'Callaghan, Church of England

14 September 1909

William Francis Choat
Lilian Maud Hardman

William Francis Choat
Lilian Maud Hardman
💍 1909/3127

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee
Domestic Duties

29
24

Thames
Thames

14 years
24 years

Presbyterian Church, Pollen Street, Thames

09/4202

14 September 1909

Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

No	55
Date of Notice	14 September 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Francis Choat	Lilian Maud Hardman
	💍 1909/3127
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee	Domestic Duties
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	14 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Pollen Street, Thames
Folio	09/4202
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 September 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

14 September 1909

Albert Ernest Morgan
Leah Hancock

Albert Ernest Morgan
Leah Hancock
💍 1909/3130

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer (Foundry)
Domestic duties

30
30

Thames
Thames

30 years
30 years

In the house of Mrs. Neven, Parawai

09/4205

14 September 1909

E. H. Taylor, Church of Christ

No	56
Date of Notice	14 September 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Ernest Morgan	Leah Hancock
	💍 1909/3130
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer (Foundry)	Domestic duties
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	30 years	30 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs. Neven, Parawai
Folio	09/4205
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 September 1909
Officiating Minister	E. H. Taylor, Church of Christ

20 September 1909

Stuart McIver
Pehipa Rapana

Stuart McIver
Pehipa Rapana
💍 1909/3111

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Domestic duties

26
23

Thames
Thames

5 months
23 years

Registrar's Office, Mary Street, Thames

09/4199

20 September 1909

William H. Potts, Registrar

No	57
Date of Notice	20 September 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stuart McIver	Pehipa Rapana
	💍 1909/3111
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Domestic duties
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	5 months	23 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Mary Street, Thames
Folio	09/4199
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 September 1909
Officiating Minister	William H. Potts, Registrar

21 September 1909

Arnold van Asch
Florence Margaret Dunlop

Arnold Van Arch
Florence Margaret Dunlop
💍 1909/3128

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer
Domestic duties

31
28

Thames
Thames

1 day
28 years

Presbyterian Church, Pollen Street, Thames

09/4203

21 September 1909

Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

No	58
Date of Notice	21 September 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arnold van Asch	Florence Margaret Dunlop
BDM Match (93%)	Arnold Van Arch	Florence Margaret Dunlop
	💍 1909/3128
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	31	28
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	1 day	28 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Pollen Street, Thames
Folio	09/4203
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 September 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

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).