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 273

District of Taihape Quarter ending 30 September 1909 Registrar John P. Aldridge

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

152

15 July 1909

Francis Garmonsway
Lillian Noble

Francis Garmonsway
Lilian Noble
💍 1909/5109

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Household

32
28

Rangiwahia
Raurimu

14 years
5 years

The House of J. Studholme, Raurimu

09/6674

Rev. P. H. Clarkson

No	152
Date of Notice	15 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Garmonsway	Lillian Noble
BDM Match (96%)	Francis Garmonsway	Lilian Noble
	💍 1909/5109
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	Rangiwahia	Raurimu
Length of Residence	14 years	5 years
Marriage Place	The House of J. Studholme, Raurimu
Folio	09/6674
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. H. Clarkson

153

19 July 1909

Ernest J. Marsh
Isobel A. Rohde

Ernest Joseph Marsh
Helena Rohde
💍 1909/5091

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Household

20
18

Ohutu
Ohutu

3 years
4 years

The Office of the Registrar

09/6680

Ellen Marsh, mother of groom; J. Rohde, father of bride

14 August 1909

Registrar

No	153
Date of Notice	19 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest J. Marsh	Isobel A. Rohde
BDM Match (64%)	Ernest Joseph Marsh	Helena Rohde
	💍 1909/5091
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Household
Age	20	18
Dwelling Place	Ohutu	Ohutu
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar
Folio	09/6680
Consent	Ellen Marsh, mother of groom; J. Rohde, father of bride
Date of Certificate	14 August 1909
Officiating Minister	Registrar

154

22 July 1909

Tom C. Coyle
Mary K. Main

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill hand
Household

26
20

Utiku
Utiku

5 years
5 years

Office of the Registrar

09/4609

J. P. Main, father

22 July 1909

Registrar

No	154
Date of Notice	22 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Tom C. Coyle	Mary K. Main
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill hand	Household
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Utiku	Utiku
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar
Folio	09/4609
Consent	J. P. Main, father
Date of Certificate	22 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Registrar

155

16 August 1909

Edwin W. Leith
Isobel Ellen Kelly

Edwin Martell Silk
Violet Ellen Kelly
💍 1909/5111

Bachelor
Spinster

Auditor
Household

35
25

Mangaweka
Mangaweka

4 years
3 1/2 years

St. Margaret's, Taihape

09/6676

Rev. P. H. Clarkson

No	155
Date of Notice	16 August 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin W. Leith	Isobel Ellen Kelly
BDM Match (61%)	Edwin Martell Silk	Violet Ellen Kelly
	💍 1909/5111
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Auditor	Household
Age	35	25
Dwelling Place	Mangaweka	Mangaweka
Length of Residence	4 years	3 1/2 years
Marriage Place	St. Margaret's, Taihape
Folio	09/6676
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. H. Clarkson

156

14 August 1909

Joseph Hamill
Olive Morgan

Joseph Hamill
Olive Morgan
💍 1909/5110

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Household

33
35

Taihape
Taihape

4 years
6 months

St. Margaret's, Taihape

09/6675

Rev. P. H. Clarkson

No	156
Date of Notice	14 August 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Hamill	Olive Morgan
	💍 1909/5110
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Household
Age	33	35
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	4 years	6 months
Marriage Place	St. Margaret's, Taihape
Folio	09/6675
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. H. Clarkson

157

14 August 1909

William Robert Emmerson
Vivia B. Luke

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor
Household

28
35

Taihape
Taihape

3 years
2 years

St. Margaret's, Taihape

09/6677

Rev. P. H. Clarkson

No	157
Date of Notice	14 August 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Robert Emmerson	Vivia B. Luke
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor	Household
Age	28	35
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Margaret's, Taihape
Folio	09/6677
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. H. Clarkson

158

25 August 1909

William A. Phyn
Margaret Fitton

William Henry Phyn
Margaret Eleanor Filton
💍 1909/3417

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Household

31
28

Mawhata
Ariwera

12 years
2 months

The Office of the Registrar

09/4610

15 July 1909

Registrar

No	158
Date of Notice	25 August 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William A. Phyn	Margaret Fitton
BDM Match (67%)	William Henry Phyn	Margaret Eleanor Filton
	💍 1909/3417
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household
Age	31	28
Dwelling Place	Mawhata	Ariwera
Length of Residence	12 years	2 months
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar
Folio	09/4610
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Registrar

159

11 September 1909

Finlay M. McKenzie
Helen Robinson

Finlay Mathieson Mackenzie
Helen Robinson
💍 1909/3419

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman
Household

26
27

Taihape
Taihape

4 months
8 months

Presbyterian Church, Taihape

09/4612

Rev. Ewart

No	159
Date of Notice	11 September 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Finlay M. McKenzie	Helen Robinson
BDM Match (81%)	Finlay Mathieson Mackenzie	Helen Robinson
	💍 1909/3419
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman	Household
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	4 months	8 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Taihape
Folio	09/4612
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. Ewart

160

15 September 1909

Stephen Chas. Ord
Eliza Ann Todays

Stephen Charles Ord
Eliza Ann Hodges
💍 1909/5114

Widower
Spinster

Labourer
Household

31
19

Makara
Makara

2 years
4 years

The House of the Bride's father

09/6679

William Todays, father

Rev. Smalley

No	160
Date of Notice	15 September 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stephen Chas. Ord	Eliza Ann Todays
BDM Match (80%)	Stephen Charles Ord	Eliza Ann Hodges
	💍 1909/5114
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Household
Age	31	19
Dwelling Place	Makara	Makara
Length of Residence	2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	The House of the Bride's father
Folio	09/6679
Consent	William Todays, father
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. Smalley

161

14 September 1909

William A. Lod
Mary Estelle Luke

William Alexander Henry Todd
Mary Estelle Tuke
💍 1909/5113

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Household

29
24

Taihape
Taihape

2 1/2 years
2 years

St. Margaret's, Taihape

09/6678

Rev. P. H. Clarkson

No	161
Date of Notice	14 September 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William A. Lod	Mary Estelle Luke
BDM Match (69%)	William Alexander Henry Todd	Mary Estelle Tuke
	💍 1909/5113
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Household
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Margaret's, Taihape
Folio	09/6678
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. H. Clarkson

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).