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 363

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 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

216

13 March 1909

John Harlen
Sarah Ann Rubie Mason-Milliscroft

John Harlen
Sarah Ann Ruth Mason-Williscroft
💍 1909/1601

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic

23
23

Kilbirnie
Wellington

life
20 years

St Peters Church, Wellington

09/2732

13 March 1909

Rev. E. P. Davy

No	216
Date of Notice	13 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Harlen	Sarah Ann Rubie Mason-Milliscroft
BDM Match (94%)	John Harlen	Sarah Ann Ruth Mason-Williscroft
	💍 1909/1601
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Kilbirnie	Wellington
Length of Residence	life	20 years
Marriage Place	St Peters Church, Wellington
Folio	09/2732
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. P. Davy

217

13 March 1909

George Herbert Harrison
Myrtle Olive May Neill

George Herbert Harrison
Myrtle Olive May Neill
💍 1909/963

Bachelor
Spinster

Surveyor

29
20

Petone
Petone

8 years
10 years

St Augustine's Church, Petone

09/806

William Neill, Father

13 March 1909

Rev. J. D. Russell

No	217
Date of Notice	13 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Herbert Harrison	Myrtle Olive May Neill
	💍 1909/963
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surveyor
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	8 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St Augustine's Church, Petone
Folio	09/806
Consent	William Neill, Father
Date of Certificate	13 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. D. Russell

218

15 March 1909

Charles Albert Simes
Gertrude Williams

Charles Albert Sims
Gertrude Williams
💍 1909/1019

Bachelor
Spinster

Primitive Methodist Minister

31
32

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
2 days

Primitive Methodist Church, Donald McLean Street, Wellington

09/782

15 March 1909

Rev. C. E. Ward

No	218
Date of Notice	15 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Albert Simes	Gertrude Williams
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Albert Sims	Gertrude Williams
	💍 1909/1019
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Primitive Methodist Minister
Age	31	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	2 days
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Donald McLean Street, Wellington
Folio	09/782
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. E. Ward

219

15 March 1909

Lewis Henry Herbert Wilson
Fanny Scanlan

Lewis Henry Herbert Wixon
Fanny Scanlon
💍 1909/1043

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

21
21

Ngauranga
Wellington South

11 years
3 years

St Anne's Roman Catholic Church, Wellington South

09/884

15 March 1909

Rev. A. Herring

No	219
Date of Notice	15 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lewis Henry Herbert Wilson	Fanny Scanlan
BDM Match (92%)	Lewis Henry Herbert Wixon	Fanny Scanlon
	💍 1909/1043
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Ngauranga	Wellington South
Length of Residence	11 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St Anne's Roman Catholic Church, Wellington South
Folio	09/884
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Herring

220

15 March 1909

Evan Jones
Ellen Mabel Luke

Evan Jones
Ellen Mabel Luke
💍 1909/909

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

31
23

Wellington
Wellington

8 years
life

Residence of Mrs. G. Luke, Epuni Street, Wellington

09/768

15 March 1909

Rev. W. Shirer

No	220
Date of Notice	15 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Evan Jones	Ellen Mabel Luke
	💍 1909/909
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 years	life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. G. Luke, Epuni Street, Wellington
Folio	09/768
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

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).