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 038

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 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

165

13 February 1909

George Albert Armitage
Florence Kathleen Smithson

George Albert Armitage
Florence Kathleen Smithson
💍 1909/454

Bachelor
Spinster

Tramway Employee

25
17

Auckland
Birkenhead

5 years
17 years

House of Father of Bride

09/317

Earl Smithson, father

13 February 1909

Rev. P. J. Cook, Methodist

No	165
Date of Notice	13 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Albert Armitage	Florence Kathleen Smithson
	💍 1909/454
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tramway Employee
Age	25	17
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Birkenhead
Length of Residence	5 years	17 years
Marriage Place	House of Father of Bride
Folio	09/317
Consent	Earl Smithson, father
Date of Certificate	13 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cook, Methodist

166

13 February 1909

Herbert Jesse Piper
Ellen Alice Macrow

Herbert Jesse Piper
Ellen Alice Macrow
💍 1909/479

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

25
22

Auckland
Auckland

25 years
7 years

St. Sepulchre's Church

09/342

13 February 1909

Rev. P. W. Smales, Anglican

No	166
Date of Notice	13 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Jesse Piper	Ellen Alice Macrow
	💍 1909/479
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	25 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St. Sepulchre's Church
Folio	09/342
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. W. Smales, Anglican

167

13 February 1909

Felix Vincent Kelly
Hortense Agnes Runcie

Felix Vincent Kelly
Hortense Agnes Runcie
💍 1909/514

Bachelor
Spinster

Surveyor

40
24

Auckland
Auckland

20 years
2 months

St. Andrew's Church

09/403

13 February 1909

Rev. A. A. Murray, Presbyterian

No	167
Date of Notice	13 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Felix Vincent Kelly	Hortense Agnes Runcie
	💍 1909/514
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surveyor
Age	40	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	20 years	2 months
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church
Folio	09/403
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. A. Murray, Presbyterian

168

15 February 1909

Edward Page Dyer
Annie Amelia Dyer

Edward Page
Annie Amelia Dyer
💍 1909/613

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

22
21

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
3 years

Registrar's Office

09/483

15 February 1909

E. B. Laing, Registrar

No	168
Date of Notice	15 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Page Dyer	Annie Amelia Dyer
BDM Match (84%)	Edward Page	Annie Amelia Dyer
	💍 1909/613
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	09/483
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1909
Officiating Minister	E. B. Laing, Registrar

169

15 February 1909

Walter Samuel Fisher
Ethel Mary Cornish

Walter Samuel Fisher
Ethel May Cornish
💍 1909/480

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

35
27

Auckland
Auckland

2 years
4 months

St. Sepulchre's Church

09/343

15 February 1909

Rev. P. J. Cook, Anglican

No	169
Date of Notice	15 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Samuel Fisher	Ethel Mary Cornish
BDM Match (97%)	Walter Samuel Fisher	Ethel May Cornish
	💍 1909/480
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	35	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	4 months
Marriage Place	St. Sepulchre's Church
Folio	09/343
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cook, Anglican

170

15 February 1909

Patrick McSweeney
Catherine Jones

Patrick McHocney
Catherine Jones
💍 1909/528

Bachelor
Spinster

Artilleryman

34
35

Auckland
Auckland

8 years
12 years

St. Benedict's Church

09/391

15 February 1909

Rev. P. J. Phelan, Roman Catholic

No	170
Date of Notice	15 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick McSweeney	Catherine Jones
BDM Match (88%)	Patrick McHocney	Catherine Jones
	💍 1909/528
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Artilleryman
Age	34	35
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	8 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St. Benedict's Church
Folio	09/391
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Phelan, Roman Catholic

171

15 February 1909

George Brownlee
Jessie Brown

George Brownlee
Jessie Brown
💍 1909/332

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Officer

45
38

Auckland
Auckland

6 days
15 years

St. Paul's Church

09/177

15 February 1909

Rev. C. A. B. Watson, Anglican

No	171
Date of Notice	15 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Brownlee	Jessie Brown
	💍 1909/332
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Officer
Age	45	38
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	6 days	15 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church
Folio	09/177
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. B. Watson, Anglican

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).