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 028

District of AUCKLAND Quarter ending 31 March 1909 Registrar D. Culpan

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

103

28 January 1909

Thomas Wynne
Anne Perry

Thomas Wynne
Annie Perry
💍 1909/558

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

25
32

Auckland
Auckland

5 years
20 years

House of Rev. M. Walker, Wellington Street, Auckland

09/450

28 January 1909

Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

No	103
Date of Notice	28 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Wynne	Anne Perry
BDM Match (95%)	Thomas Wynne	Annie Perry
	💍 1909/558
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	25	32
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years	20 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. M. Walker, Wellington Street, Auckland
Folio	09/450
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

104

28 January 1909

Thomas Henry Lynch
Eleanor Hannah Wilson

Thomas Henry Lynch
Eleanor Hannah Wilson
💍 1909/556

Bachelor
Divorcee

Butcher

29
31

Auckland
Auckland

5 days
5 weeks

House of Rev. M. Walker, Wellington Street, Auckland

09/449

28 January 1909

Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

No	104
Date of Notice	28 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Lynch	Eleanor Hannah Wilson
	💍 1909/556
Condition	Bachelor	Divorcee
Profession	Butcher
Age	29	31
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 days	5 weeks
Marriage Place	House of Rev. M. Walker, Wellington Street, Auckland
Folio	09/449
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

105

28 January 1909

James Goldie Rutherford
Rose Bennett

James Goldie Rutherford
Rose Bennett
💍 1909/237

Widower
Widow

Blacksmith

57
42

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Auckland

09/97

28 January 1909

D. Culpan, Registrar

No	105
Date of Notice	28 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Goldie Rutherford	Rose Bennett
	💍 1909/237
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	57	42
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	09/97
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1909
Officiating Minister	D. Culpan, Registrar

106

28 January 1909

Harold Gladstone Hercus
Margaret Macky

Harold Gladstone Hercus
Margaret Macky
💍 1909/515

Bachelor
Spinster

Evangelist

27
22

Auckland
Auckland

2 years
22 years

St. Andrews Church, Auckland

09/404

28 January 1909

Rev. A. A. Murray, Presbyterian

No	106
Date of Notice	28 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Gladstone Hercus	Margaret Macky
	💍 1909/515
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Evangelist
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church, Auckland
Folio	09/404
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. A. Murray, Presbyterian

107

28 January 1909

Albert Edward Neary
Clementina Grover

Albert Edward Neary
Clementina Grover
💍 1909/239

Bachelor
Spinster

Fire Brigade Man

22
18

Auckland
Auckland

2 years
5 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

09/99

Elizabeth Ann Grover, Mother

28 January 1909

D. Culpan, Registrar

No	107
Date of Notice	28 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward Neary	Clementina Grover
	💍 1909/239
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fire Brigade Man
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	09/99
Consent	Elizabeth Ann Grover, Mother
Date of Certificate	28 January 1909
Officiating Minister	D. Culpan, Registrar

108

30 January 1909

Hugh Frederick Brandon
Violet Orfeur McDonnell

Hugh Frederick Brandon
Violet Oxfeur McDonnell
💍 1909/544

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler

42
25

Auckland
Auckland

4 days
4 days

St. Aidans Church, Remuera

09/383

30 January 1909

Rev. W. E. J. Connolly, Anglican

No	108
Date of Notice	30 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Frederick Brandon	Violet Orfeur McDonnell
BDM Match (98%)	Hugh Frederick Brandon	Violet Oxfeur McDonnell
	💍 1909/544
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	42	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	St. Aidans Church, Remuera
Folio	09/383
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. J. Connolly, 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).