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 659

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 March 1909 Registrar Duncan M Low

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 February 1909

George Albert Cordes
Laura Mary Verran

George Albert Cordes
Laura Mary Verran
💍 1909/465

Bachelor
Spinster

Boilermaker
Domestic duties

28
24

Thames
Thames

28 years
16 years

Methodist Church of Australasia Thames

09/304

2 February 1909

Rev J Blight Methodist Church of Australasia

No	7
Date of Notice	2 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Albert Cordes	Laura Mary Verran
	💍 1909/465
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boilermaker	Domestic duties
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	28 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church of Australasia Thames
Folio	09/304
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev J Blight Methodist Church of Australasia

9 February 1909

Harry Byron Taylor
Elizabeth Mary Bayldon

Harry Byson Taylor
Elizabeth Mary Bayldon
💍 1909/580

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic duties

23
22

Thames
Thames

23 years
22 years

Church of England Mackay St Thames

09/473

9 February 1909

Dr O'Callaghan Church of England

No	8
Date of Notice	9 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Byron Taylor	Elizabeth Mary Bayldon
BDM Match (97%)	Harry Byson Taylor	Elizabeth Mary Bayldon
	💍 1909/580
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic duties
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	23 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Mackay St Thames
Folio	09/473
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Dr O'Callaghan Church of England

10 February 1909

James O'Neill
Mabel Bawden

James O'Neill
Mabel Bawden
💍 1909/466

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

26
24

Thames
Thames

10 weeks
24 years

In the house of Mr J Brokenshire Thames

09/305

10 February 1909

Rev. J. Blight Methodist Church of Australasia

No	9
Date of Notice	10 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James O'Neill	Mabel Bawden
	💍 1909/466
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	10 weeks	24 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr J Brokenshire Thames
Folio	09/305
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Blight Methodist Church of Australasia

15 February 1909

Robert Harold Jamieson
Alice Priscilla Hall

Robert Harold Jamieson
Alice Priscilla Hall
💍 1909/405

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

21
17

Tapu
Tapu

21 years
1 week

Registrar Office Thames

09/243

George Hall Father

15 February 1909

W. H. Potts Registrar

No	10
Date of Notice	15 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Harold Jamieson	Alice Priscilla Hall
	💍 1909/405
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	21	17
Dwelling Place	Tapu	Tapu
Length of Residence	21 years	1 week
Marriage Place	Registrar Office Thames
Folio	09/243
Consent	George Hall Father
Date of Certificate	15 February 1909
Officiating Minister	W. H. Potts Registrar

19 February 1909

Harry Snelgar
Anastasia Roche

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

23
22

Thames
Thames

1 day
22 years

Roman Catholic Church, Willoughby Street, Thames

not solemnised

24 February 1909

Right Rev Monsignor O'Reilly Roman Catholic

No	11
Date of Notice	19 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Snelgar	Anastasia Roche
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	1 day	22 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Willoughby Street, Thames
Folio	not solemnised
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Right Rev Monsignor O'Reilly Roman Catholic

20 February 1909

John Edward Sainsbury
Maria Connolly

John Edward Sainsbury
Maria Connolly
💍 1909/406

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

33
29

Thames
Thames

33 years
29 years

Registrar Office Mary St. Thames

09/244

20 February 1909

W H Potts Registrar

No	12
Date of Notice	20 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Edward Sainsbury	Maria Connolly
	💍 1909/406
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	33	29
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	33 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Registrar Office Mary St. Thames
Folio	09/244
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1909
Officiating Minister	W H Potts Registrar

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).