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 348

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 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

146

17 February 1909

Arthur Roberts
Minnie Margrette Tiso

Arthur Roberts
Minnie Margrette Tiso
💍 1909/770

Bachelor
Spinster

Master Baker

22
23

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
23 years

Primitive Methodist Church, Webb Street, Wellington

09/666

17 February 1909

Rev. J. Dawson

No	146
Date of Notice	17 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Roberts	Minnie Margrette Tiso
	💍 1909/770
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Master Baker
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Webb Street, Wellington
Folio	09/666
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Dawson

147

17 February 1909

David Prouse Smith
Alice Jane Hobbs

David Prouse Smith
Alice Jane Hobbs
💍 1909/906

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

21
19

Wellington
Wellington

Life
19 years

St. James' Presbyterian Church, Wellington

09/765

Thomas Pierce Hobbs, Father

17 February 1909

Rev. W. Shirer

No	147
Date of Notice	17 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Prouse Smith	Alice Jane Hobbs
	💍 1909/906
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	19 years
Marriage Place	St. James' Presbyterian Church, Wellington
Folio	09/765
Consent	Thomas Pierce Hobbs, Father
Date of Certificate	17 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

148

18 February 1909

George William Button
Ellen Sloan

George William Button
Ellen Sloan
💍 1909/901

Bachelor
Spinster

Timber Laborer

37
35

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
4 years

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

09/736

18 February 1909

Rev. E. J. Venning

No	148
Date of Notice	18 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Button	Ellen Sloan
	💍 1909/901
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Timber Laborer
Age	37	35
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary of The Angels Church, Boulcott Street, Wellington
Folio	09/736
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. J. Venning

149

19 February 1909

Irwin Cunningham
Mary Jane Walsh

Irwin Cunningham
Mary Jane Walsh
💍 1909/733

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

28
34

Wellington
Wellington

12 months
4 years

Residence of Mrs. Miles, 12 Cambridge Terrace, Wellington

09/603

19 February 1909

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	149
Date of Notice	19 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Irwin Cunningham	Mary Jane Walsh
	💍 1909/733
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	28	34
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 months	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Miles, 12 Cambridge Terrace, Wellington
Folio	09/603
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

150

19 February 1909

Alexander Robert Hislop
Olive May Stevens

Alexander Robert Hislop
Olive May Stevens
💍 1909/953

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant

26
23

Wellington
Wellington

Life
5 years

St. Mary's Church, Wellington

09/814

19 February 1909

Rev. A. M. Johnson

No	150
Date of Notice	19 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Robert Hislop	Olive May Stevens
	💍 1909/953
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Wellington
Folio	09/814
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnson

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).