Intentions to Marry, 1911 Auckland, Taranaki

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840445, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1911 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, (1911a), Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1911b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1911c).

Page 026

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1911 Registrar Thomas Culpan

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

115

3 February 1911

John Murray
Dorothy Pearl Gilfillan

John Murray
Dorothy Pearl Gilfillan
💍 1911/807

Bachelor
Spinster

accountant

26
18

Kingsland
Mt. Eden

6 1/2 yrs
life

Home of Bridegroom's Father, Kingsland

11/233

James Gilfillan, father of bride

3 February 1911

Rev. J. M. Simpson

No	115
Date of Notice	3 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Murray	Dorothy Pearl Gilfillan
	💍 1911/807
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	accountant
Age	26	18
Dwelling Place	Kingsland	Mt. Eden
Length of Residence	6 1/2 yrs	life
Marriage Place	Home of Bridegroom's Father, Kingsland
Folio	11/233
Consent	James Gilfillan, father of bride
Date of Certificate	3 February 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Simpson

116

3 February 1911

James Clegg
Elsie Pashamame Williams

James Clegg
Elsie Castlemaine Williams
💍 1911/1398

Bachelor
Spinster

Commission agent

37
24

Auckland
Grey Lynn

10 yrs
2 yrs

St. Matthew's Church

11/892

3 February 1911

Rev. W. E. Gillam

No	116
Date of Notice	3 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Clegg	Elsie Pashamame Williams
BDM Match (88%)	James Clegg	Elsie Castlemaine Williams
	💍 1911/1398
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commission agent
Age	37	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Grey Lynn
Length of Residence	10 yrs	2 yrs
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church
Folio	11/892
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Gillam

117

3 February 1911

Joseph Pacey
Ruby Irene Impey Hassett

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

26
23

Ponsonby
Auckland

3 yrs
life

Unitarian Church

11/193

3 February 1911

Rev. R. J. Hall

No	117
Date of Notice	3 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Pacey	Ruby Irene Impey Hassett
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Ponsonby	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 yrs	life
Marriage Place	Unitarian Church
Folio	11/193
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Hall

118

3 February 1911

Thomas McDowell
Adelaide Blanche Annie Saunders

Thomas McDowell
Adelaide Blanche Annie Saunders
💍 1911/1399

Bachelor
Spinster

Coppersmith

24
24

Auckland
Ponsonby

20 yrs
life

St. Matthew's Church

11/893

3 February 1911

Rev. W. Gibson

No	118
Date of Notice	3 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas McDowell	Adelaide Blanche Annie Saunders
	💍 1911/1399
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coppersmith
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Ponsonby
Length of Residence	20 yrs	life
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church
Folio	11/893
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Gibson

119

3 February 1911

John London Buchanan
Florence Lilian Henderson

John London Buchanan
Florence Lillian Henderson
💍 1911/760

Bachelor
Spinster

Motorman

24
22

Ponsonby
Grey Lynn

5 yrs
4 yrs

Methodist Mission Hall, East St.

11/135

3 February 1911

Rev. J. Wilson

No	119
Date of Notice	3 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John London Buchanan	Florence Lilian Henderson
BDM Match (98%)	John London Buchanan	Florence Lillian Henderson
	💍 1911/760
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motorman
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Ponsonby	Grey Lynn
Length of Residence	5 yrs	4 yrs
Marriage Place	Methodist Mission Hall, East St.
Folio	11/135
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Wilson

120

4 February 1911

Frank Julian Goldsmith
Jessie Evelyn Goldsmith

Frank Julian
Jessie Evelyn Goldsmith
💍 1911/920

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

21
21

Auckland
Auckland

2 2/3 yrs
life

Epsom Church

11/270

4 February 1911

Rev. W. E. Lush

No	120
Date of Notice	4 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Julian Goldsmith	Jessie Evelyn Goldsmith
BDM Match (77%)	Frank Julian	Jessie Evelyn Goldsmith
	💍 1911/920
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 2/3 yrs	life
Marriage Place	Epsom Church
Folio	11/270
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Lush

121

6 February 1911

William Hercules Thomas
Lilian Clara Barker

William Hercules Thomas
Lilian Clara Carter
💍 1911/848

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

31
26

Arch Hill
Eden Terrace

14 yrs
13 yrs

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

11/121

6 February 1911

Rev. J. A. Reeve

No	121
Date of Notice	6 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hercules Thomas	Lilian Clara Barker
BDM Match (95%)	William Hercules Thomas	Lilian Clara Carter
	💍 1911/848
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Arch Hill	Eden Terrace
Length of Residence	14 yrs	13 yrs
Marriage Place	Church of the Holy Sepulchre
Folio	11/121
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Reeve

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).