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 362

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

211

11 March 1909

Arthur John Podevin
Margaret Annie Barker

Arthur John Podevin
Margaret Annie Barker
💍 1909/218

Divorced

Sheep Farmer

32
31

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
2 weeks

Registrar's Office

09/55

11 March 1909

Registrar

No	211
Date of Notice	11 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur John Podevin	Margaret Annie Barker
	💍 1909/218
Condition	Divorced
Profession	Sheep Farmer
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	09/55
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Registrar

212

11 March 1909

Josiah Henry Lane
Agnes Sophia Watson Powersey

Josiah Henry Lane Towersey
Agnes Sophia Watson
💍 1909/219

Bachelor
Spinster

Master Baker

28
21

Wellington
Wellington

Life
6 months

Registrar's Office

09/56

11 March 1909

Registrar

No	212
Date of Notice	11 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Josiah Henry Lane	Agnes Sophia Watson Powersey
BDM Match (67%)	Josiah Henry Lane Towersey	Agnes Sophia Watson
	💍 1909/219
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Master Baker
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	09/56
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Registrar

213

11 March 1909

John George Baillie
Laura Swain

John George Baillie
Laura Swain
💍 1909/908

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

19
24

Wellington
Wellington South

18 years
Life

St. James' Presbyterian Manse, Wellington South

09/767

John Patrick Baillie (Father)

11 March 1909

Rev. Wm. Shirer

No	213
Date of Notice	11 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John George Baillie	Laura Swain
	💍 1909/908
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	19	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington South
Length of Residence	18 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. James' Presbyterian Manse, Wellington South
Folio	09/767
Consent	John Patrick Baillie (Father)
Date of Certificate	11 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Shirer

214

12 March 1909

Percival John Horsley
Mary Ellen Livingstone

Percival John Horsley
Mary Ellen Livingstone
💍 1909/873

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

32
26

Wellington
75 Austin Street, Wellington

8 days
8 days

Residence of Rev. J. G. North, 75 Austin Street, Wellington

09/685

12 March 1909

Rev. J. G. North

No	214
Date of Notice	12 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percival John Horsley	Mary Ellen Livingstone
	💍 1909/873
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	75 Austin Street, Wellington
Length of Residence	8 days	8 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. J. G. North, 75 Austin Street, Wellington
Folio	09/685
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. North

215

12 March 1909

Charles Edmund Thompson
Ellen Martha Ward

Charles Edmund Thompson
Ellen Martha Ward
💍 1909/1803

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger

29
25

Wellington
Wellington

9 years
Life

Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington

09/2854

12 March 1909

Rev. S. J. Serpell

No	215
Date of Notice	12 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edmund Thompson	Ellen Martha Ward
	💍 1909/1803
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 years	Life
Marriage Place	Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington
Folio	09/2854
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. J. Serpell

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).