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 026

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1909 Registrar I. Bulpan

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

26 January 1909

Frederick Richard Woods
Selina Elliot

Frederick Richard Woods
Selina Elliot
💍 1909/583

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger

37
33

Auckland
Ellerslie

20 years
33 years

House of Mr. George Basire, Ellerslie

09/475

26 January 1909

Rev. H. W. Johnston, Presbyterian

No	91
Date of Notice	26 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Richard Woods	Selina Elliot
	💍 1909/583
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger
Age	37	33
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Ellerslie
Length of Residence	20 years	33 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. George Basire, Ellerslie
Folio	09/475
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. Johnston, Presbyterian

26 January 1909

John Taylor
Alice Mabel Shailer

John Taylor
Alice Mabelle Shailer
💍 1909/433

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor

23
21

Auckland
Parnell

2 years
2 years

St. Mary's Cathedral, Parnell

09/295

26 January 1909

Rev. G. MacMurray, Anglican

No	92
Date of Notice	26 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Taylor	Alice Mabel Shailer
BDM Match (95%)	John Taylor	Alice Mabelle Shailer
	💍 1909/433
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Parnell
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Cathedral, Parnell
Folio	09/295
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. MacMurray, Anglican

26 January 1909

Alexander Hill
Isabella Shearer

Alexander Hill
Isabella Shearer
💍 1909/517

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
33

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
33 years

St. Andrews Church, Auckland

09/406

26 January 1909

Rev. A. A. Murray, Presbyterian

No	93
Date of Notice	26 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Hill	Isabella Shearer
	💍 1909/517
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	33
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	33 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church, Auckland
Folio	09/406
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. A. Murray, Presbyterian

26 January 1909

William Parker Luch
Annie Tuohy

William Parker Such
Annie Tuohy
💍 1909/534

Widower
Spinster

Settler

62
50

Auckland
Otahuhu

35 years
27 years

Roman Catholic Church, Otahuhu

09/396

26 January 1909

Rev. F. Buckley, Roman Catholic

No	94
Date of Notice	26 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Parker Luch	Annie Tuohy
BDM Match (97%)	William Parker Such	Annie Tuohy
	💍 1909/534
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	62	50
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Otahuhu
Length of Residence	35 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Otahuhu
Folio	09/396
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Buckley, Roman Catholic

26 January 1909

Robert Henderson
May Alice Russell

Robert Henderson
May Alice Russell
💍 1909/516

Bachelor
Spinster

Yardman

34
24

Otahuhu
Auckland

3 weeks
10 years

St. Andrews Manse, Wynyard Street

09/405

26 January 1909

Rev. A. A. Murray, Presbyterian

No	95
Date of Notice	26 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Henderson	May Alice Russell
	💍 1909/516
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Yardman
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Otahuhu	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 weeks	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Manse, Wynyard Street
Folio	09/405
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. A. Murray, Presbyterian

27 January 1909

John Isbister
Sarah Gibbs Burham

John Isbister
Sarah Gibbs Curham
💍 1909/235

Bachelor
Widow

Storekeeper

50
43

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Auckland

09/95

27 January 1909

I. Bulpan, Registrar

No	96
Date of Notice	27 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Isbister	Sarah Gibbs Burham
BDM Match (97%)	John Isbister	Sarah Gibbs Curham
	💍 1909/235
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	50	43
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	09/95
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1909
Officiating Minister	I. Bulpan, 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).