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 571

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 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

608

27 August 1910

John Michael Murphy
Katie Taylor

John Michael Murphy
Kate Taylor
💍 1910/4447

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder Contractor

38
34

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 weeks

St. Joseph's Church, Buckle Street, Wellington

10/4583

27 August 1910

Rev. J. O'Shea

No	608
Date of Notice	27 August 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Michael Murphy	Katie Taylor
BDM Match (96%)	John Michael Murphy	Kate Taylor
	💍 1910/4447
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder Contractor
Age	38	34
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Church, Buckle Street, Wellington
Folio	10/4583
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 August 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. O'Shea

609

27 August 1910

Frank Kinford Millar
Agnes Eleanor Marshall

Frank Winfird Millar
Agnes Eleanor Marshall
💍 1910/4522

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

24
31

Wellington
Wellington

9 years
3 years

Sacred Heart Church, Hill Street, Wellington

10/4655

27 August 1910

Rev. J. P. Dickson

No	609
Date of Notice	27 August 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Kinford Millar	Agnes Eleanor Marshall
BDM Match (95%)	Frank Winfird Millar	Agnes Eleanor Marshall
	💍 1910/4522
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	24	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Church, Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	10/4655
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 August 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. P. Dickson

610

29 August 1910

William Henry Coles
Dorothy Victoria Lillian Gayton

William Henry Coles
Dorothy Victoria Lillian Gayton
💍 1910/4340

Bachelor
Spinster

Police Constable

23
19

Wellington
Wellington

9 months
3 years

St. James Church, Wellington South

10/4545

Hannah Coffey, mother

29 August 1910

Rev. W. Shirer

No	610
Date of Notice	29 August 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Coles	Dorothy Victoria Lillian Gayton
	💍 1910/4340
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Police Constable
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 months	3 years
Marriage Place	St. James Church, Wellington South
Folio	10/4545
Consent	Hannah Coffey, mother
Date of Certificate	29 August 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

611

29 August 1910

Ernest Fredrick Parlato
Alma Blanche Edwards

Ernest Fredrick Parlato
Alma Blanche Edwards
💍 1910/4298

Bachelor
Spinster

Oil Engine Driver

27
19

Upper Hutt
Upper Hutt

2 years
Life

St. John's Church, Upper Hutt

10/4426

Thomas Edwards, father

29 August 1910

Rev. J. H. Lykes

No	611
Date of Notice	29 August 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Fredrick Parlato	Alma Blanche Edwards
	💍 1910/4298
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Oil Engine Driver
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Upper Hutt	Upper Hutt
Length of Residence	2 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Upper Hutt
Folio	10/4426
Consent	Thomas Edwards, father
Date of Certificate	29 August 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Lykes

612

29 August 1910

Walter Fenning Dowman
Mary Ellen Dowman

Walter Fenning Dowman
Mary Ellen Dowman
💍 1910/5683

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

33
28

Wellington
Wellington

2 months
16 years

Residence of Mr. Hall Carr Dowman, Mortimer Terrace, Wellington

10/6039

29 August 1910

Rev. J. Paterson

No	612
Date of Notice	29 August 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Fenning Dowman	Mary Ellen Dowman
	💍 1910/5683
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	33	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 months	16 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Hall Carr Dowman, Mortimer Terrace, Wellington
Folio	10/6039
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 August 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).