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 090

District of AUCKLAND Quarter ending 30 June 1909 Registrar E. Livermore

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

500

3 May 1909

Edwin Cuthbert Webb
Florence Reid

Edwin Cuthbert Webb
Florence Maggie Reid
💍 1909/2701

Bachelor
Spinster

Stoker

25
19

Auckland
Auckland

3 months
17 years

St. Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland

09/3907

John Reid, father

3 May 1909

Rev. M. Meagher, Roman Catholic

No	500
Date of Notice	3 May 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Cuthbert Webb	Florence Reid
BDM Match (83%)	Edwin Cuthbert Webb	Florence Maggie Reid
	💍 1909/2701
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stoker
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 months	17 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland
Folio	09/3907
Consent	John Reid, father
Date of Certificate	3 May 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Meagher, Roman Catholic

501

3 May 1909

Frank Tetley
Bertha Sanders

Frank Tetley
Bertha Sanders
💍 1909/6550

Bachelor
Spinster

Dyer and Cleaner

24
21

Auckland
Auckland

2 years 8 months
23 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

09/1782

3 May 1909

E. Livermore, Deputy Registrar

No	501
Date of Notice	3 May 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Tetley	Bertha Sanders
	💍 1909/6550
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dyer and Cleaner
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years 8 months	23 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	09/1782
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1909
Officiating Minister	E. Livermore, Deputy Registrar

502

3 May 1909

Horace Arthur Beamish
Una Balfour Carrodus

Horace Arthur Blampied
Una Balfour Carradus
💍 1909/7421

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

21
19

Auckland
Auckland

21 years
12 years

Knox Church, Parnell

09/1907

14 May 1909

Rev. J. M. Simpson, Presbyterian

No	502
Date of Notice	3 May 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horace Arthur Beamish	Una Balfour Carrodus
BDM Match (88%)	Horace Arthur Blampied	Una Balfour Carradus
	💍 1909/7421
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	21 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Knox Church, Parnell
Folio	09/1907
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 May 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Simpson, Presbyterian

503

3 May 1909

James Craig
Sarah Emily Alexander

James Craig
Sarah Emily Alexander
💍 1909/7395

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

30
24

Auckland
Auckland

3 years
4 months

Presbyterian Church, Lower Symonds Street, Auckland

09/1880

3 May 1909

Rev. A. A. Murray, Presbyterian

No	503
Date of Notice	3 May 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Craig	Sarah Emily Alexander
	💍 1909/7395
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	4 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Lower Symonds Street, Auckland
Folio	09/1880
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. A. Murray, Presbyterian

504

4 May 1909

Percy Vivian Garfield Meiklejohn
Clara Lawford

Percy Vivian Garfield Meiklejohn
Clara Lawford
💍 1909/7396

Bachelor
Widow

Motorman

28
30

Auckland
Auckland

6 years
30 years

St. Stephen's Church, Jervois Road, Auckland

09/1881

4 May 1909

Rev. A. M. Caldwell, Presbyterian

No	504
Date of Notice	4 May 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Vivian Garfield Meiklejohn	Clara Lawford
	💍 1909/7396
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Motorman
Age	28	30
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	6 years	30 years
Marriage Place	St. Stephen's Church, Jervois Road, Auckland
Folio	09/1881
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 May 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Caldwell, Presbyterian

505

4 May 1909

Henry Edmund Smith
Fanny Edith Abercrombie

Henry Edmund Smith
Fanny Edith Abercrombie
💍 1909/7445

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

35
23

Auckland
Auckland

20 years
23 years

Primitive Methodist Church, Franklin Road, Auckland

09/1982

4 May 1909

Rev. R. Raine, Primitive Methodist

No	505
Date of Notice	4 May 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Edmund Smith	Fanny Edith Abercrombie
	💍 1909/7445
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	35	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	20 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Franklin Road, Auckland
Folio	09/1982
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 May 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Raine, Primitive Methodist

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).