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 342

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

116

8 February 1909

Alfred Thomas
Louise Annie Harris

Alfred Thomas
Louise Annie Harris
💍 1909/937

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

25
20

Kilbirnie
Wellington

4 yrs
5 mos

Church of Christ Wellington South

09/848

Zara Elizabeth Harris (mother, Guardian)

8 February 1909

Mr. A. F. Turner

No	116
Date of Notice	8 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Thomas	Louise Annie Harris
	💍 1909/937
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Kilbirnie	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 yrs	5 mos
Marriage Place	Church of Christ Wellington South
Folio	09/848
Consent	Zara Elizabeth Harris (mother, Guardian)
Date of Certificate	8 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Mr. A. F. Turner

117

8 February 1909

Matthew Hildreth Robinson
Florence Rubina Anderson

Matthew Hildreth Robinson
Florence Robina Anderson
💍 1909/721

Bachelor
Spinster

Chief Clerk

23
23

Wellington
Wellington

2 1/2 yrs
2 yrs

St. John's Presbyterian Church Wellington

09/591

8 February 1909

Rev. J. Gibb D.D.

No	117
Date of Notice	8 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew Hildreth Robinson	Florence Rubina Anderson
BDM Match (98%)	Matthew Hildreth Robinson	Florence Robina Anderson
	💍 1909/721
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chief Clerk
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 1/2 yrs	2 yrs
Marriage Place	St. John's Presbyterian Church Wellington
Folio	09/591
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb D.D.

118

8 February 1909

Samuel William Rudd
Annie Burk

Samuel William Rudd
Annie Burk
💍 1909/307

Widower June 1906
Spinster

Fruiterer

48
35

Wellington
Wellington

20 yrs
1 yr

Registrar's Office Wellington

09/27

8 February 1909

Registrar

No	118
Date of Notice	8 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel William Rudd	Annie Burk
	💍 1909/307
Condition	Widower June 1906	Spinster
Profession	Fruiterer
Age	48	35
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 yrs	1 yr
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	09/27
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Registrar

119

8 February 1909

William Wilkie G. Bennet
Jessie Maud Waters

William Wilkie Bennet
Jessie Maud Waters
💍 1909/926

Bachelor
Spinster

Tram Conductor

35
25

Wellington
Wellington

6 yrs
2 yrs

Residence of Mr. J. McLaren Karepa Street Brooklyn

09/963

8 February 1909

Rev. S. Shirer

No	119
Date of Notice	8 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Wilkie G. Bennet	Jessie Maud Waters
BDM Match (94%)	William Wilkie Bennet	Jessie Maud Waters
	💍 1909/926
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tram Conductor
Age	35	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 yrs	2 yrs
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. McLaren Karepa Street Brooklyn
Folio	09/963
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Shirer

120

8 February 1909

Francis Martin Minogue
Gertrude Ruby Ellesley

Francis Martin Minogue
Gertrude Ruby Ellesley
💍 1909/1042

Bachelor
Spinster

Brewer

33
20

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
2 wks

Roman Catholic Church Island Bay

09/883

There is no person in The Dominion having authority to give consent

Rev. J. S. Herbert

No	120
Date of Notice	8 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Martin Minogue	Gertrude Ruby Ellesley
	💍 1909/1042
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brewer
Age	33	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	2 wks
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Island Bay
Folio	09/883
Consent	There is no person in The Dominion having authority to give consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. S. Herbert

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).