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 442

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1909 Registrar Gilbert Graham Hodgkins

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

611

26 July 1909

Charles Frederick Stubbs
Charlotte Goetzlof

Charles Frederick Stubbs
Charlotte Goetzlof
💍 1909/7879

Bachelor
Widow

Seaman

33
37

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
8 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

09/4660

26 July 1909

Registrar

No	611
Date of Notice	26 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Frederick Stubbs	Charlotte Goetzlof
	💍 1909/7879
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Seaman
Age	33	37
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	09/4660
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Registrar

612

26 July 1909

George Hurren
Elsie May Pudney

George Hurren
Elsie May Pudney
💍 1909/3511

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailors Cutter

27
22

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
10 years

Residence of Mr. W. F. Pudney, 31 Queen Street, Wellington

09/4754

26 July 1909

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	612
Date of Notice	26 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Hurren	Elsie May Pudney
	💍 1909/3511
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailors Cutter
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. W. F. Pudney, 31 Queen Street, Wellington
Folio	09/4754
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

613

26 July 1909

Gilbert Robertson Stevens
Lizzie Sarah Year

Gilbert Robertson Stevens
Lizzie Sarah Vear
💍 1909/5319

Bachelor
Spinster

Metal Merchant

26
22

Wellington
Wellington

4 weeks
15 years

St. Matthews Church, Brooklyn

09/6196

26 July 1909

Rev. D. J. Johnson

No	613
Date of Notice	26 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gilbert Robertson Stevens	Lizzie Sarah Year
BDM Match (97%)	Gilbert Robertson Stevens	Lizzie Sarah Vear
	💍 1909/5319
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Metal Merchant
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 weeks	15 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Brooklyn
Folio	09/6196
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. J. Johnson

614

27 July 1909

George Rickard
Lena Myrtle Rowell

George Rickard
Lena Myrtle Rowell
💍 1909/3617

Divorced (decree absolute 29 March 1909)
Spinster

Cheese Factory Manager

28
20

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
life

Church of Christ, Vivian Street, Wellington

09/4864

Thomas Rowell, Father

27 July 1909

Mr. J. J. Franklyn

No	614
Date of Notice	27 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Rickard	Lena Myrtle Rowell
	💍 1909/3617
Condition	Divorced (decree absolute 29 March 1909)	Spinster
Profession	Cheese Factory Manager
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	life
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Vivian Street, Wellington
Folio	09/4864
Consent	Thomas Rowell, Father
Date of Certificate	27 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Mr. J. J. Franklyn

615

27 July 1909

Sydney Herbert Palmer
May Elizabeth Lambert

Sydney Herbert Palmer
May Elizabeth Lambert
💍 1909/3577

Bachelor
Spinster

Billiards Marker

25
27

Wellington
Wellington

20 years
life

Residence of Mrs. Scott, No. 6 Brawtille Terrace, Wellington

09/4847

27 July 1909

Rev. W. J. Williams

No	615
Date of Notice	27 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Herbert Palmer	May Elizabeth Lambert
	💍 1909/3577
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Billiards Marker
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Scott, No. 6 Brawtille Terrace, Wellington
Folio	09/4847
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Williams

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).