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 835

District of AUCKLAND Quarter ending 31 March 1895

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 January 1905

William Edward Back
Mary Burley MacKellar

William Edward Burley
Mary McLellan
💍 1905/5597

Bachelor
Spinster

Teacher

29
26

Auckland
Auckland

11 years
8 years

Methodist Church, Symonds Street, Eden

05/156

6 January 1905

Rev. J. W. Ashold, Methodist

No	7
Date of Notice	6 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edward Back	Mary Burley MacKellar
BDM Match (64%)	William Edward Burley	Mary McLellan
	💍 1905/5597
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teacher
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	11 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Symonds Street, Eden
Folio	05/156
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Ashold, Methodist

6 January 1905

Joseph Henry Back Riddell
Mabel May Phin Willey

Joseph Henry Riddell
Mabel May Willey
💍 1905/63

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner

28
24

Auckland
Auckland

4 days
6 years

St. David's Church, Auckland

05/117

6 January 1905

Rev. R. Sommerville, Presbyterian

No	8
Date of Notice	6 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Henry Back Riddell	Mabel May Phin Willey
BDM Match (78%)	Joseph Henry Riddell	Mabel May Willey
	💍 1905/63
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 days	6 years
Marriage Place	St. David's Church, Auckland
Folio	05/117
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Sommerville, Presbyterian

9 January 1905

William George Back McMillan
Mabel Mary Spin Higgins

William George McMillan
Mabel Mary Higgins
💍 1905/5557

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

28
25

Auckland
Auckland

28 years
25 years

St. Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland

05/139

9 January 1905

Rev. J. T. Patterson, Roman Catholic

No	9
Date of Notice	9 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Back McMillan	Mabel Mary Spin Higgins
BDM Match (80%)	William George McMillan	Mabel Mary Higgins
	💍 1905/5557
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	28 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland
Folio	05/139
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. T. Patterson, Roman Catholic

9 January 1905

William Henry Back Cresswell
Mary Ann MacLeod

William Henry Cresswell
Mary Ann McLeod
💍 1905/5530

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

27
27

Auckland
Auckland

27 years
20 years

St. Paul's Church, Auckland

05/186

9 January 1905

Rev. C. M. Nelson, Church of England

No	10
Date of Notice	9 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Back Cresswell	Mary Ann MacLeod
BDM Match (88%)	William Henry Cresswell	Mary Ann McLeod
	💍 1905/5530
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	27 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Auckland
Folio	05/186
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. M. Nelson, Church of England

9 January 1905

William Alexander North
Mary Bridgman

William North
Mary Bridgman
💍 1905/5609

Widower
Spinster

Farmer

61
50

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
5 years

House of W. A. Bridgman, Mount Roskill

05/192

9 January 1905

Rev. J. T. Day, Congregational

No	11
Date of Notice	9 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alexander North	Mary Bridgman
BDM Match (78%)	William North	Mary Bridgman
	💍 1905/5609
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	61	50
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	5 years
Marriage Place	House of W. A. Bridgman, Mount Roskill
Folio	05/192
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. T. Day, Congregational

9 January 1905

Richard Henry Trotter
Selena Avenell

Richard Henry Trotter
Selena Avenell
💍 1905/5502

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler

44
26

Patutahi
Auckland

10 years
26 years

All Saints Church, Auckland

05/164

9 January 1905

Ven. Arch. W. Calder, Church of England

No	12
Date of Notice	9 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Henry Trotter	Selena Avenell
	💍 1905/5502
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	44	26
Dwelling Place	Patutahi	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 years	26 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Auckland
Folio	05/164
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Ven. Arch. W. Calder, Church of England

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).