Intentions to Marry, 1910 Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840443, 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 530

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1910 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

421

6 June 1910

Ernest Richard Wood
Edith May Whitaker

Ernest Richard Wood
Edith May Whitcher
💍 1910/2495

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

21
20

Nainui-o-mata
Petone

Life
Life

Registrars Office, Wellington

10/2642

Eliza Whitaker, mother

6 June 1910

Registrar

No	421
Date of Notice	6 June 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Richard Wood	Edith May Whitaker
BDM Match (94%)	Ernest Richard Wood	Edith May Whitcher
	💍 1910/2495
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Nainui-o-mata	Petone
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Wellington
Folio	10/2642
Consent	Eliza Whitaker, mother
Date of Certificate	6 June 1910
Officiating Minister	Registrar

422

6 June 1910

Francis McGovern
Margaret Cleary

Francis McGovern
Margaret Cleary
💍 1910/2472

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

25
24

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
6 months

Roman Catholic Church, Hill Street, Wellington

10/2509

6 June 1910

Rev. W. Peoples

No	422
Date of Notice	6 June 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis McGovern	Margaret Cleary
	💍 1910/2472
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	10/2509
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 June 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Peoples

423

7 June 1910

John Ferguson
Stephnener Berry
Divorce, decree absolute 18 February 1910

John Ferguson
Stephnener Berry
💍 1910/2577

Bachelor
Divorcee

Cab proprietor

31
24

Wellington
Wellington

7 years
5 years

Residence of Charles Thomas Scoringe, 48 Abel Smith Street, Wellington

10/2676

7 June 1910

Rev. W. Shirer

No	423
Date of Notice	7 June 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ferguson	Stephnener Berry Divorce, decree absolute 18 February 1910
	💍 1910/2577
Condition	Bachelor	Divorcee
Profession	Cab proprietor
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Charles Thomas Scoringe, 48 Abel Smith Street, Wellington
Folio	10/2676
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 June 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

424

7 June 1910

Norman Hugh Trevelyan Barnett
Ethel Margaret Hill

Norman Hugh Trevelyan Barnett
Ethel Margaret Hill
💍 1910/2668

Bachelor
Spinster

Traveller

26
23

Wellington
Wellington

26 years
17 years

St Marks Church, Wellington

10/2795

7 June 1910

Rev. C.E.G.H. Tobin

No	424
Date of Notice	7 June 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Hugh Trevelyan Barnett	Ethel Margaret Hill
	💍 1910/2668
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Traveller
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	26 years	17 years
Marriage Place	St Marks Church, Wellington
Folio	10/2795
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 June 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. C.E.G.H. Tobin

425

7 June 1910

Stuart Brown McDonald
Eleonore Grondin

Stuart Brown McDonald
Eleanor Grondin
💍 1910/3578

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper

25
20

Wellington
Wellington

1 month
Life

Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church, Wellington

10/3749

John Baptiste Grondin, Father

7 June 1910

Rev. J.K. Elliott

No	425
Date of Notice	7 June 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stuart Brown McDonald	Eleonore Grondin
BDM Match (94%)	Stuart Brown McDonald	Eleanor Grondin
	💍 1910/3578
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 month	Life
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church, Wellington
Folio	10/3749
Consent	John Baptiste Grondin, Father
Date of Certificate	7 June 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. J.K. Elliott

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).