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 343

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1909 Registrar Gilbert Graham Hodghins

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

121

8 February 1909

Arthur Ernest Newcastle Drury
Amy Ethel Scoringa

Arthur Ernest Newcastle Drury
Amy Ethel Scariage
💍 1909/924

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

22
18

Wellington
Wellington

11 years
3 years

Residence of Mrs. M. A. S. Drury, 9A Hopper Street

09/761

Francis Scoringa (Father)

8 February 1909

Rev. W. Shirer

No	121
Date of Notice	8 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Ernest Newcastle Drury	Amy Ethel Scoringa
BDM Match (92%)	Arthur Ernest Newcastle Drury	Amy Ethel Scariage
	💍 1909/924
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	11 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. M. A. S. Drury, 9A Hopper Street
Folio	09/761
Consent	Francis Scoringa (Father)
Date of Certificate	8 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

122

9 February 1909

Thomas Gilmore Keane
Winifred Matilda Laver

Thomas Gilmore Keane
Winifred Matilda Lowes
💍 1909/808

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

54
32

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
4 months

Congregational Church, Manse, The Terrace

09/655

9 February 1909

Rev. J. R. Glasson

No	122
Date of Notice	9 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Gilmore Keane	Winifred Matilda Laver
BDM Match (93%)	Thomas Gilmore Keane	Winifred Matilda Lowes
	💍 1909/808
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	54	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	4 months
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Manse, The Terrace
Folio	09/655
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Glasson

123

10 February 1909

Thomas Paul Miskell
Isabella Skews

Thomas Paul Miskell
Isabella Skews
💍 1909/314

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

23
23

Wellington
Wellington

9 months
12 months

Registrar's Office

09/28

10 February 1909

Registrar

No	123
Date of Notice	10 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Paul Miskell	Isabella Skews
	💍 1909/314
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 months	12 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	09/28
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Registrar

124

11 February 1909

Edward Walter Percy Pearce
Bertha Pauline Meyer

Edward Walter Percy Pearce
Bertha Pauline Meyer
💍 1909/945

Bachelor
Spinster

Boot Importer

31
35

Wellington
Wellington

30 years
4 years

St. Peter's Church

09/832

11 February 1909

Rev. G. T. Davys

No	124
Date of Notice	11 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Walter Percy Pearce	Bertha Pauline Meyer
	💍 1909/945
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boot Importer
Age	31	35
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	30 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church
Folio	09/832
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. T. Davys

125

11 February 1909

Michael John Kyne
Johanna Elizabeth Carmody

Michael John Kyne
Johanna Elizabeth Carmody
💍 1909/6580

Bachelor
Spinster

Police Constable

23
24

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
Life

St. Joseph's Church, Buckle Street

09/400

11 February 1909

Rev. S. Mahony

No	125
Date of Notice	11 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael John Kyne	Johanna Elizabeth Carmody
	💍 1909/6580
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Police Constable
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Church, Buckle Street
Folio	09/400
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Mahony

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).