Intentions to Marry, 1910 Auckland, Taranaki

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840442, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1910 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki (1910a), Wellington, , Hawke's Bay, Nelson, Westland (1910b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1910c).

Page 343

District of Ohaeawai Quarter ending 30 June 1910 Registrar Jas. T.W. Collier

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

6 April 1910

Charles Alexander Michie
Eleanor Baker Michie

Charles Alexander Michie
Eleanor Baker
💍 1910/5692

Divorced
Widow

Settler
Domestic duties

49
45

Ohaeawai
Ohaeawai

40 years
6 years

Registrar's Office Ohaeawai

10/6025

6 April 1910

J.T.W. Collier, Registrar

No	85
Date of Notice	6 April 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Alexander Michie	Eleanor Baker Michie
BDM Match (83%)	Charles Alexander Michie	Eleanor Baker
	💍 1910/5692
Condition	Divorced	Widow
Profession	Settler	Domestic duties
Age	49	45
Dwelling Place	Ohaeawai	Ohaeawai
Length of Residence	40 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Ohaeawai
Folio	10/6025
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1910
Officiating Minister	J.T.W. Collier, Registrar

20 April 1910

William Archibald Norriss Nelson
Florence Maria Tulloch Nelson

William Archibald Norriss Neilson
Florence Maria Tullock Neilson
💍 1910/3567

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

27
27

Feilding
Ngawha

6 years
14 days

St. Mark's Church of England Ohaeawai

10/3693

20 April 1910

Rev. C. Mortimer Jones

No	86
Date of Notice	20 April 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Archibald Norriss Nelson	Florence Maria Tulloch Nelson
BDM Match (95%)	William Archibald Norriss Neilson	Florence Maria Tullock Neilson
	💍 1910/3567
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Ngawha
Length of Residence	6 years	14 days
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church of England Ohaeawai
Folio	10/3693
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 April 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Mortimer Jones

6 May 1910

Reuben Cruller Buchanan
Isabella Anderson

Reuben Cruller
Isabella Anderson
💍 1910/5693

Bachelor
Minor

Bushman

26
19

Ohaeawai
Te Ahuahu

5 years
Life

Registrar's Office Ohaeawai

10/6026

Abraham Anderson, Father

6 May 1910

J.T.W. Collier, Registrar

No	87
Date of Notice	6 May 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reuben Cruller Buchanan	Isabella Anderson
BDM Match (80%)	Reuben Cruller	Isabella Anderson
	💍 1910/5693
Condition	Bachelor	Minor
Profession	Bushman
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Ohaeawai	Te Ahuahu
Length of Residence	5 years	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Ohaeawai
Folio	10/6026
Consent	Abraham Anderson, Father
Date of Certificate	6 May 1910
Officiating Minister	J.T.W. Collier, Registrar

17 May 1910

Robert Athelstan Clarke
Hannah Hilda Nelson

Robert Athelstan Clarke
Hannah Hilda Neilson
💍 1910/3569

Bachelor
Spinster

Wheelwright

21
23

Waimate North
Waimate North

Life
Life

St. John the Baptist Church Waimate North

10/3695

17 May 1910

Rev. C. Mortimer Jones

No	88
Date of Notice	17 May 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Athelstan Clarke	Hannah Hilda Nelson
BDM Match (98%)	Robert Athelstan Clarke	Hannah Hilda Neilson
	💍 1910/3569
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wheelwright
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Waimate North	Waimate North
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	St. John the Baptist Church Waimate North
Folio	10/3695
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 May 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Mortimer Jones

6 June 1910

Roy Melville Donaldson
Margaret Emily Donaldson

Roy Melville
Margaret Emily Donaldson
💍 1910/2260

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Household duties

28
24

Ohaeawai
Ohaeawai

4 years
Life

Residence of Bride's father Ohaeawai

10/2220

6 June 1910

M.J. Hilder

No	89
Date of Notice	6 June 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roy Melville Donaldson	Margaret Emily Donaldson
BDM Match (77%)	Roy Melville	Margaret Emily Donaldson
	💍 1910/2260
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Household duties
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Ohaeawai	Ohaeawai
Length of Residence	4 years	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Bride's father Ohaeawai
Folio	10/2220
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 June 1910
Officiating Minister	M.J. Hilder

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).