Intentions to Marry, 1905 Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840427, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1905 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1905a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1905b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1905c).

Page 803

District of AUCKLAND Quarter ending 31 March 1905

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

179

9 March 1905

Preston Inos Knight
Martha Mears

Preston Moss Knight
Martha Mears
💍 1905/5501

Widower
Widow

Farmer

52
40

Auckland
Auckland

30 years
30 years

Church of England

05/763

9 March 1905

Rev. N. D. Boyes, Church of England

No	179
Date of Notice	9 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Preston Inos Knight	Martha Mears
BDM Match (92%)	Preston Moss Knight	Martha Mears
	💍 1905/5501
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Farmer
Age	52	40
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	30 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	05/763
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. N. D. Boyes, Church of England

180

9 March 1905

David Walker
Mary Ann Donald

David Walker
Mary Ann Donald
💍 1905/83

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

35
21

Auckland
Ponsonby Road

10 years
10 years

Church of Christ

05/205

9 March 1905

Mr. C. Watt, Church of Christ

No	180
Date of Notice	9 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Walker	Mary Ann Donald
	💍 1905/83
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	35	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Ponsonby Road
Length of Residence	10 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ
Folio	05/205
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1905
Officiating Minister	Mr. C. Watt, Church of Christ

181

10 March 1905

Samuel Thomas Gray
Emily Cleal

Samuel Thomas Gray
Emily Cleal
💍 1905/6464

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor

30
23

Auckland
Auckland

30 years
23 years

St. James' Church, Auckland

05/1708

10 March 1905

Rev. R. L. Walker, Presbyterian

No	181
Date of Notice	10 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Thomas Gray	Emily Cleal
	💍 1905/6464
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	30 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. James' Church, Auckland
Folio	05/1708
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. L. Walker, Presbyterian

182

10 March 1905

Henry John Parfitt
Harriet Xavier Heenan

Henry John Parfitt
Harriet Xavier Heenan
💍 1905/5512

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

23
23

Onehunga
Auckland

22 years
23 years

Registrar Office

05/743

10 March 1905

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	182
Date of Notice	10 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry John Parfitt	Harriet Xavier Heenan
	💍 1905/5512
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Onehunga	Auckland
Length of Residence	22 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Registrar Office
Folio	05/743
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1905
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

183

10 March 1905

Hillary Nutt
Fanny Groome

Hillary Nutt
Fanny Froome
💍 1905/4738

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper's Assistant

29
30

Auckland
Ponsonby

1 year
6 days

House of J. H. Wood, Ponsonby

05/216

10 March 1905

Rev. J. B. Butler, Central Mission

No	183
Date of Notice	10 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hillary Nutt	Fanny Groome
BDM Match (96%)	Hillary Nutt	Fanny Froome
	💍 1905/4738
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper's Assistant
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Ponsonby
Length of Residence	1 year	6 days
Marriage Place	House of J. H. Wood, Ponsonby
Folio	05/216
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. B. Butler, Central Mission

184

11 March 1905

John Sutherland
Rachel McMillan

John Sutherland
Rachel McMillan
💍 1905/5553

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee

30
30

Auckland
Howick

2 years
30 years

Presbyterian Church

05/127

11 March 1905

Rev. A. Doull, Presbyterian

No	184
Date of Notice	11 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Sutherland	Rachel McMillan
	💍 1905/5553
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Howick
Length of Residence	2 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	05/127
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Doull, Presbyterian

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 1903. 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).