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 409

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 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

446

28 May 1909

Henry McIntosh
Isabella Murry Soabie

Henry McIntosh
Isabella Murry Sorbie
💍 1909/1636

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener

38
36

Lowry Bay
Lower Hutt

30 years
7 months

Residence of Mr. E. Cudby, Alicetown

09/2766

28 May 1909

Rev. A. Thomson

No	446
Date of Notice	28 May 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry McIntosh	Isabella Murry Soabie
BDM Match (98%)	Henry McIntosh	Isabella Murry Sorbie
	💍 1909/1636
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener
Age	38	36
Dwelling Place	Lowry Bay	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	30 years	7 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. E. Cudby, Alicetown
Folio	09/2766
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Thomson

447

29 May 1909

Norman Legrow Marsh
Maude Marion Archdeacon

Norman Legrow March
Maude Marion Archdeason
💍 1909/1637

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser

24
25

Wellington
Wellington

5 months
3 months

St. James' Manse, Wellington

09/2767

29 May 1909

Rev. W. Shirer

No	447
Date of Notice	29 May 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Legrow Marsh	Maude Marion Archdeacon
BDM Match (95%)	Norman Legrow March	Maude Marion Archdeason
	💍 1909/1637
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 months	3 months
Marriage Place	St. James' Manse, Wellington
Folio	09/2767
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

448

29 May 1909

Donald Budge
Henrietta Mackenzie

Donald Budge
Henrietta MacKenzie
💍 1909/1638

Widower 26 April 1902
Spinster

Laborer

34
34

Pelone
Wellington

1 3/4 years
2 1/2 years

Kew Terrace Presbyterian Church

09/2768

29 May 1909

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	448
Date of Notice	29 May 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Budge	Henrietta Mackenzie
BDM Match (97%)	Donald Budge	Henrietta MacKenzie
	💍 1909/1638
Condition	Widower 26 April 1902	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	34	34
Dwelling Place	Pelone	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 3/4 years	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Kew Terrace Presbyterian Church
Folio	09/2768
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

449

31 May 1909

Francis Thomas Rogers
Margaret Cecilia Harcourt

Francis Thomas Rogers
Margaret Cecilia Harcourt
💍 1909/7711

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

25
17

Wellington
Wellington

2 1/2 years
1 1/2 years

St. Joseph's Church, Buckle Street

09/2825

James Harcourt (father)

31 May 1909

Rev. T. O'Shea

No	449
Date of Notice	31 May 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Thomas Rogers	Margaret Cecilia Harcourt
	💍 1909/7711
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	25	17
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	1 1/2 years
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Church, Buckle Street
Folio	09/2825
Consent	James Harcourt (father)
Date of Certificate	31 May 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. O'Shea

450

31 May 1909

Benjamin Bricklington
Lizette Margaret Wilson

Benjamin Frecklington
Liesette Margaret Wilson
💍 1909/1586

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
27

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
Life

St. Mark's Church, Wellington

09/2776

31 May 1909

Rev. Faucourt

No	450
Date of Notice	31 May 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin Bricklington	Lizette Margaret Wilson
BDM Match (91%)	Benjamin Frecklington	Liesette Margaret Wilson
	💍 1909/1586
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	Life
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church, Wellington
Folio	09/2776
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. Faucourt

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).