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 667

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 June 1909 Registrar William A. H. P. Rimmer

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

8 April 1909

Herbert Charles Towers
Clarice Louisa Kendall

Herbert Charles Towers
Clarice Louisa Kendall
💍 1909/2442

Bachelor
Spinster

Turner
Domestic duties

27
23

Thames
Thames

27 years
23 years

In the house of Mr Kendall, Beach Road, Thames

09/3701

8 April 1909

Rev. J. Blight, Methodist Church of Australasia

No	25
Date of Notice	8 April 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Charles Towers	Clarice Louisa Kendall
	💍 1909/2442
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Turner	Domestic duties
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	27 years	23 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr Kendall, Beach Road, Thames
Folio	09/3701
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Blight, Methodist Church of Australasia

8 April 1909

Thomas Edmund Mullins
Laura Agnes Hillgour

Thomas Edmund Mullins
Laura Agnes Killgour
💍 1909/6989

Bachelor
Spinster

Post Office Clerk
Domestic duties

29
25

Thames
Thames

29 years
25 years

St. Francis Roman Catholic Church, Thames

09/2008

8 April 1909

Right Rev. Monsignor O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

No	26
Date of Notice	8 April 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Edmund Mullins	Laura Agnes Hillgour
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Edmund Mullins	Laura Agnes Killgour
	💍 1909/6989
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Post Office Clerk	Domestic duties
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	29 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St. Francis Roman Catholic Church, Thames
Folio	09/2008
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1909
Officiating Minister	Right Rev. Monsignor O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

9 April 1909

George Charles Edward Andrews
Elizabeth Mary Curtis

George Charles Edward Andrews
Elizabeth Mary Curtis
💍 1909/7600

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic duties

27
29

Thames
Thames

1 day
29 years

In the house of Mr H. W. Curtis, Parawai, Thames

09/2192

12 April 1909

E. H. Taylor, Church of Christ

No	27
Date of Notice	9 April 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Charles Edward Andrews	Elizabeth Mary Curtis
	💍 1909/7600
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic duties
Age	27	29
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	1 day	29 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr H. W. Curtis, Parawai, Thames
Folio	09/2192
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 April 1909
Officiating Minister	E. H. Taylor, Church of Christ

21 April 1909

William Henry Peverall
Julia Bowkett

William Henry Pevreal
Julia Bowkett
💍 1909/7004

Widower
Widow

Farmer
Domestic duties

58
45

Thames
Thames

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Mary Street, Thames

09/2199

21 April 1909

William H. Potts, Registrar

No	28
Date of Notice	21 April 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Peverall	Julia Bowkett
BDM Match (93%)	William Henry Pevreal	Julia Bowkett
	💍 1909/7004
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	58	45
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Mary Street, Thames
Folio	09/2199
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 April 1909
Officiating Minister	William H. Potts, Registrar

23 April 1909

Robert Henry Arbury
Eleanor Smith

Robert Henry Arbury
Eleanor Smith
💍 1909/6983

Bachelor
Spinster

Turner
Domestic duties

32
21

Thames
Thames

32 years
21 years

Baptist Church, Mary St., Thames

09/2202

23 April 1909

Rev. W. H. Hinton, Baptist

No	29
Date of Notice	23 April 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Henry Arbury	Eleanor Smith
	💍 1909/6983
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Turner	Domestic duties
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	32 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Mary St., Thames
Folio	09/2202
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 April 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Hinton, Baptist

24 April 1909

Thomas Henry Wilson
Elizabeth Ann Willetts

Thomas Henry Wilson
Elizabeth Ann Willetts
💍 1909/7597

Bachelor
Spinster

Fisherman
Domestic duties

29
22

Thames
Thames

29 years
22 years

Presbyterian Church, Pollen St., Thames

09/2189

24 April 1909

Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

No	30
Date of Notice	24 April 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Wilson	Elizabeth Ann Willetts
	💍 1909/7597
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fisherman	Domestic duties
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	29 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Pollen St., Thames
Folio	09/2189
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 April 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).