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 120

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 September 1909

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

676

2 July 1909

John Stewart Moncrieffe Evans
Alice May Marshall

John Stewart Moncrieffe Evans
Alice May Marshall
💍 1909/2439

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
22

Devonport
Auckland

1/2 year
22

Registrar's Office

09/3721

2 July 1909

Registrar

No	676
Date of Notice	2 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Stewart Moncrieffe Evans	Alice May Marshall
	💍 1909/2439
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Devonport	Auckland
Length of Residence	1/2 year	22
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	09/3721
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Registrar

677

2 July 1909

Eric John Macfarlane Appleford
Mary Honour Duncan

Eric John Macfarlane Appleyard
Mary Honour Duncan
💍 1909/2626

Bachelor
Spinster

Mercantile Officer

30
22

Auckland
Auckland

2 years
2

Church

09/3794

2 July 1909

Rev. W. E. Allam, Anglican

No	677
Date of Notice	2 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric John Macfarlane Appleford	Mary Honour Duncan
BDM Match (97%)	Eric John Macfarlane Appleyard	Mary Honour Duncan
	💍 1909/2626
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mercantile Officer
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	2
Marriage Place	Church
Folio	09/3794
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Allam, Anglican

678

2 July 1909

John Mills Christian
Esther Martha Salt

John Mills Christian
Esther Martha Salt
💍 1909/197

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
21

Auckland
Auckland

7 months
3 years

House of Rev. M. Walker

09/3986

2 July 1909

Rev. M. Walker, Church of England

No	678
Date of Notice	2 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Mills Christian	Esther Martha Salt
	💍 1909/197
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	7 months	3 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. M. Walker
Folio	09/3986
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Walker, Church of England

679

2 July 1909

William Peter Le Brun
Emily Elizabeth Rose

William Peter Le Brun
Emily Elizabeth Cox
💍 1909/2670

Bachelor
Widow

Carter

33
33

Auckland
Auckland

9 years
33

St. James' Church

09/3836

2 July 1909

Rev. R. L. Walker, Presbyterian

No	679
Date of Notice	2 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Peter Le Brun	Emily Elizabeth Rose
BDM Match (93%)	William Peter Le Brun	Emily Elizabeth Cox
	💍 1909/2670
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Carter
Age	33	33
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	9 years	33
Marriage Place	St. James' Church
Folio	09/3836
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. L. Walker, Presbyterian

680

5 July 1909

Hugh Duffan
Caroline Morrissey

Hugh Duggan
Caroline Morrissey
💍 1909/7727

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
18

Auckland
Auckland

20 years
3

St. Patrick's Cathedral

09/3888

Thomas Morrissey, Father

5 July 1909

Rev. A. I. Holbrook, Roman Catholic

No	680
Date of Notice	5 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Duffan	Caroline Morrissey
BDM Match (91%)	Hugh Duggan	Caroline Morrissey
	💍 1909/7727
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	20 years	3
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Cathedral
Folio	09/3888
Consent	Thomas Morrissey, Father
Date of Certificate	5 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. I. Holbrook, Roman Catholic

681

5 July 1909

Edward Arthur Death
Helena Harriet Hardy

Edward Arthur Death
Helena Harriett Hardy
💍 1909/2618

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

39
27

Auckland
Auckland

5 days
10 years

St. Luke's Church

09/3809

5 July 1909

Rev. I. J. Parry, Anglican

No	681
Date of Notice	5 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Arthur Death	Helena Harriet Hardy
BDM Match (98%)	Edward Arthur Death	Helena Harriett Hardy
	💍 1909/2618
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	39	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 days	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church
Folio	09/3809
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. J. Parry, Anglican

682

5 July 1909

Ernest Albert Ellis
Elizabeth Empire

Ernest Albert Ellis
Elizabeth McGuire
💍 1909/2472

Divorced
Spinster

Hairdresser

27
23

Auckland
Auckland

26 years
23

Registrar's Office

09/3722

5 July 1909

Registrar

No	682
Date of Notice	5 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Albert Ellis	Elizabeth Empire
BDM Match (88%)	Ernest Albert Ellis	Elizabeth McGuire
	💍 1909/2472
Condition	Divorced	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	26 years	23
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	09/3722
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1909
Officiating Minister	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).