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 489

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 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

841

29 October 1909

Maurice Connor
Elizabeth Angeler Reid

Maurice Connor
Elizabeth Angela Reid
💍 1909/8168

Bachelor
Spinster

Horse Driver

23
20

Wellington
Wellington

10 days
14 days

St. Joseph's Church, Buckle Street, Wellington

09/6899

William Aden Reid, Father

29 October 1909

Very Rev I O'Shea

No	841
Date of Notice	29 October 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Maurice Connor	Elizabeth Angeler Reid
BDM Match (95%)	Maurice Connor	Elizabeth Angela Reid
	💍 1909/8168
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Horse Driver
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 days	14 days
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Church, Buckle Street, Wellington
Folio	09/6899
Consent	William Aden Reid, Father
Date of Certificate	29 October 1909
Officiating Minister	Very Rev I O'Shea

842

30 October 1909

Thomas Henry Jones
Minnie Elizabeth Charlton

Thomas Henry Jones
Minnie Elizabeth Charlton
💍 1909/5156

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

22
28

Eastbourne
Wellington

62 yrs
19 yrs

Registrar's Office

09/6719

30 October 1909

Registrar

No	842
Date of Notice	30 October 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Jones	Minnie Elizabeth Charlton
	💍 1909/5156
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	22	28
Dwelling Place	Eastbourne	Wellington
Length of Residence	62 yrs	19 yrs
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	09/6719
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 October 1909
Officiating Minister	Registrar

843

30 October 1909

John Alexander McKay McLean
Catherine Conners

John Alexander McKay McLean
Kate Conners
💍 1909/5289

Bachelor
Spinster

Draftsman

56
33

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church Manse, Hill Street, Wellington

09/6858

30 October 1909

Rev J Gibson Smith

No	843
Date of Notice	30 October 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alexander McKay McLean	Catherine Conners
BDM Match (82%)	John Alexander McKay McLean	Kate Conners
	💍 1909/5289
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draftsman
Age	56	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church Manse, Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	09/6858
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 October 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev J Gibson Smith

844

30 October 1909

Walter John Scammell
Winifred Hayes

Walter John Scammell
Winifred Hayes
💍 1909/8169

Bachelor
Spinster

Jeweller

33
30

Khandallah
Wellington

5 years
6 years

St. Mary of the Angels Church, Boulcott Street, Wellington

09/6900

30 October 1909

Rev C J Venning

No	844
Date of Notice	30 October 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter John Scammell	Winifred Hayes
	💍 1909/8169
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jeweller
Age	33	30
Dwelling Place	Khandallah	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary of the Angels Church, Boulcott Street, Wellington
Folio	09/6900
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 October 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev C J Venning

845

30 October 1909

William Lawrence Butler
Kathleen McIntosh

William Lawrence Butler
Kathleen Pauline Mackintosh
💍 1909/5291

Bachelor
Widow

Financial Agent

36
35

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
4 wks

St. Andrew's Church Manse, Hill Street, Wellington

08/6859

30 October 1909

Rev J G Smith

No	845
Date of Notice	30 October 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Lawrence Butler	Kathleen McIntosh
BDM Match (80%)	William Lawrence Butler	Kathleen Pauline Mackintosh
	💍 1909/5291
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Financial Agent
Age	36	35
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	4 wks
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church Manse, Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	08/6859
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 October 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev J G Smith

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).