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 567

District of Ahaura Quarter ending 30 June 1909 Registrar E. C. Rickard

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

4 April 1909

John Llewlyn Davies
Elizabeth Grindle

John Llewellyn Davies
Elizabeth Grindle
💍 1909/1728

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

20
21

Blackball
Blackball

15 years
3 years

Church of England, Blackball

09/2896

Jane Davies, mother

7 April 1909

Rev. Archdeacon Geo. W. Yorke, Greymouth

No	2
Date of Notice	4 April 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Llewlyn Davies	Elizabeth Grindle
BDM Match (95%)	John Llewellyn Davies	Elizabeth Grindle
	💍 1909/1728
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	20	21
Dwelling Place	Blackball	Blackball
Length of Residence	15 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Blackball
Folio	09/2896
Consent	Jane Davies, mother
Date of Certificate	7 April 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archdeacon Geo. W. Yorke, Greymouth

10 April 1909

Charles Archer
Bridget Prendergest

Charles Archer
Bridget Prendergast
💍 1909/1720

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmill hand
Domestic Duties

25
26

Kamatua
Kamatua

9 months
26 years

Roman Catholic Church, Kamatua

09/2895

10 April 1909

Rev. Father Galerne, Reefton

No	3
Date of Notice	10 April 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Archer	Bridget Prendergest
BDM Match (97%)	Charles Archer	Bridget Prendergast
	💍 1909/1720
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmill hand	Domestic Duties
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Kamatua	Kamatua
Length of Residence	9 months	26 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Kamatua
Folio	09/2895
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 April 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Galerne, Reefton

17 April 1909

Israel Rhodes
Isabel Alice M'Ginn

Horace Rhodes
Mabel Olive McKenna
💍 1909/2428

Bachelor
Spinster

General Carrier
Domestic Duties

22
22

Blackball
Blackball

10 years
15 months

Roman Catholic Church, Ahaura

09/3711

17 April 1909

Rev. Father Goodman, Ahaura

No	4
Date of Notice	17 April 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Israel Rhodes	Isabel Alice M'Ginn
BDM Match (64%)	Horace Rhodes	Mabel Olive McKenna
	💍 1909/2428
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	General Carrier	Domestic Duties
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Blackball	Blackball
Length of Residence	10 years	15 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Ahaura
Folio	09/3711
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 April 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Goodman, Ahaura

2 June 1909

David Donald Baird
Margaret Gilmer

David Donald Baird
Margaret Gilmer
💍 1909/1718

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

46
36

Totara Flat
Raupo, Totara Flat

11 years
36 years by bride's family

House occupied by bride's family

09/2893

2 June 1909

Rev. R. Stewart, Greymouth

No	5
Date of Notice	2 June 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Donald Baird	Margaret Gilmer
	💍 1909/1718
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	46	36
Dwelling Place	Totara Flat	Raupo, Totara Flat
Length of Residence	11 years	36 years by bride's family
Marriage Place	House occupied by bride's family
Folio	09/2893
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Stewart, Greymouth

10 June 1909

Robert Francis Smith
Agnes Sarah Simonsen

Robert Francis Smith
Agnes Sarah Simonsen
💍 1909/1719

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic Duties

24
20

Blackball
Ahaura

12 months
11 years

Residence of Carl Anthon Simonsen, father

09/2894

Carl Anthon Simonsen, father

10 June 1909

Rev. R. Stewart, Greymouth

No	6
Date of Notice	10 June 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Francis Smith	Agnes Sarah Simonsen
	💍 1909/1719
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic Duties
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Blackball	Ahaura
Length of Residence	12 months	11 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Carl Anthon Simonsen, father
Folio	09/2894
Consent	Carl Anthon Simonsen, father
Date of Certificate	10 June 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Stewart, Greymouth

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).