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 439

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 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

596

17 July 1909

Eric Solekmann
Robina Jane Spence Baumgart

Eric Folckmann Simpson
Robina Jane Spence Baumgart
💍 1909/3635

Bachelor
Spinster

Law Clerk

25
23

Wellington
Wellington

6 years
life

Residence of Mr. Baumgart, 20 Sussex Square, Wellington

09/4779

17 July 1909

Rev. W. Shiver

No	596
Date of Notice	17 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric Solekmann	Robina Jane Spence Baumgart
BDM Match (77%)	Eric Folckmann Simpson	Robina Jane Spence Baumgart
	💍 1909/3635
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Law Clerk
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Baumgart, 20 Sussex Square, Wellington
Folio	09/4779
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shiver

597

17 July 1909

Simon Raffel
Margaret May Harrhy

Simon Raffol
Margaret May Harrhy
💍 1909/7797

Bachelor
Spinster

Store Keeper

29
22

Wellington
Wellington

2 weeks
3 weeks

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

09/4812

17 July 1909

Rev. F. Dahdah

No	597
Date of Notice	17 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Simon Raffel	Margaret May Harrhy
BDM Match (96%)	Simon Raffol	Margaret May Harrhy
	💍 1909/7797
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Store Keeper
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 weeks	3 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Mary of the Angels Church, Boulcott Street, Wellington
Folio	09/4812
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Dahdah

598

17 July 1909

William Messer
Mary Livingstone Dove

William Messer
Mary Livingstone Dove
💍 1909/3576

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailors Cutter

32
26

Wellington
Wellington

1½ years
3 days

Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington

09/4846

17 July 1909

Rev. S. F. Serpell

No	598
Date of Notice	17 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Messer	Mary Livingstone Dove
	💍 1909/3576
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailors Cutter
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1½ years	3 days
Marriage Place	Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington
Folio	09/4846
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. F. Serpell

599

19 July 1909

Harry Marfell
Jessie Isabelle Craddoch

Harry Marlett
Jessie Isabelle Craddock
💍 1909/7876

Bachelor
Spinster

Ships Steward

41
22

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
3 days

Registrars Office, Wellington

09/4657

19 July 1909

Registrar

No	599
Date of Notice	19 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Marfell	Jessie Isabelle Craddoch
BDM Match (86%)	Harry Marlett	Jessie Isabelle Craddock
	💍 1909/7876
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ships Steward
Age	41	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Wellington
Folio	09/4657
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Registrar

600

19 July 1909

Richard Turpin
Anna McGill

Richard Turpin
Anna McGill
💍 1909/3534

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Manager

28
26

Wellington
Wellington

5 days
6 weeks

St. John's Church, Wellington

09/4803

19 July 1909

Rev. J. Gibb

No	600
Date of Notice	19 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Turpin	Anna McGill
	💍 1909/3534
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Manager
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Wellington
Folio	09/4803
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb

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).