Intentions to Marry, 1909 Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840440, 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 176

District of Pahiatua Quarter ending 31 March 1909 Registrar D. D. Monro

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

12 January 1909

William John Coombe Maddewer
Fanny Girdwood

William John Coombe Maddever
Fanny Girdwood
💍 1909/890

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
No Occupation

23
26

Mangahao
Mangahao

3 days
2 years

Anglican Church

09/731

12 January 1909

Rev. C. H. Isaacson

No	1
Date of Notice	12 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Coombe Maddewer	Fanny Girdwood
BDM Match (98%)	William John Coombe Maddever	Fanny Girdwood
	💍 1909/890
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	No Occupation
Age	23	26
Dwelling Place	Mangahao	Mangahao
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church
Folio	09/731
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Isaacson

10 February 1909

Arthur James Palchell
Charlotte Elizabeth May Gardner

Arthur James Patchett
Charlotte Elizabeth May Gardner
💍 1909/879

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

31
25

Pahiatua
Nikau

5 days
17 years

Residence of Andrew Gardner

09/730

10 January 1909

Rev. W. H. Speer

No	2
Date of Notice	10 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur James Palchell	Charlotte Elizabeth May Gardner
BDM Match (93%)	Arthur James Patchett	Charlotte Elizabeth May Gardner
	💍 1909/879
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Nikau
Length of Residence	5 days	17 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Andrew Gardner
Folio	09/730
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Speer

1 March 1909

William Henry Machay
Olive La Foley Machay

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic Duties

33
23

Nikau
Nikau

4 days
8 weeks

Residence of Britton Britton

09/729

1 March 1909

Rev. F. Chalmers Hill

No	3
Date of Notice	1 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Machay	Olive La Foley Machay
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic Duties
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Nikau	Nikau
Length of Residence	4 days	8 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Britton Britton
Folio	09/729
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Chalmers Hill

2 March 1909

William Crichton Notherspoon
Frances Hilda Barrell

William Crichton Wotherspoon
Frances Hilda Barrell
💍 1909/7350

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

31
26

Mangatamoka
Mangatamoka

4 days
20 years

Anglican Church

09/734

2 March 1909

Rev. A. W. H. Compton

No	4
Date of Notice	2 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Crichton Notherspoon	Frances Hilda Barrell
BDM Match (98%)	William Crichton Wotherspoon	Frances Hilda Barrell
	💍 1909/7350
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Mangatamoka	Mangatamoka
Length of Residence	4 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church
Folio	09/734
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. W. H. Compton

29 March 1909

Norvil Peter Gibson
Sarah Jane Green

Norvil Peter Gibson
Sarah Jane Green
💍 1909/763

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

24
18

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

6 months
4 months

Registrar's Office

09/610

John Green (father)

29 March 1909

D. D. Monro Registrar

No	5
Date of Notice	29 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norvil Peter Gibson	Sarah Jane Green
	💍 1909/763
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	6 months	4 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	09/610
Consent	John Green (father)
Date of Certificate	29 March 1909
Officiating Minister	D. D. Monro 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).