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 816

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

9 February 1905

Gordon Gough Hill
Florence Maude Sampson

Gordon Gough Hill
Florence Maude Sampson
💍 1905/5523

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

20
22

Auckland
Auckland

20 years
22 years

Registrar Office, Auckland

05/30

James Hill, Father

9 February 1905

E. A. Lyons, Registrar

No	98
Date of Notice	9 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gordon Gough Hill	Florence Maude Sampson
	💍 1905/5523
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	20	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	20 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Registrar Office, Auckland
Folio	05/30
Consent	James Hill, Father
Date of Certificate	9 February 1905
Officiating Minister	E. A. Lyons, Registrar

10 February 1905

Benedict Boniface Zurcher
Metha Louise Fischer

Benedict Boniface Zurcher
Metha Louisa Fischer
💍 1905/5604

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

31
26

Auckland
Auckland

1 week
4 days

House of Mr. C. Watt, Paget Street

05/187

10 February 1905

Mr. C. Watt, Church of Christ

No	99
Date of Notice	10 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benedict Boniface Zurcher	Metha Louise Fischer
BDM Match (98%)	Benedict Boniface Zurcher	Metha Louisa Fischer
	💍 1905/5604
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 week	4 days
Marriage Place	House of Mr. C. Watt, Paget Street
Folio	05/187
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Mr. C. Watt, Church of Christ

100

10 February 1905

John Gordon Blure Kelly
Elvie Clare Kelly

John Gordon
Olive Clare Kelly
💍 1905/5605

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

21
20

Auckland
Auckland

21 years
26 years

House of Rev. J. Clark, Whitaker Place

05/188

Elvira Igetta Kelly, Mother

10 February 1905

Rev. J. Clark, Baptist

No	100
Date of Notice	10 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Gordon Blure Kelly	Elvie Clare Kelly
BDM Match (65%)	John Gordon	Olive Clare Kelly
	💍 1905/5605
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	21 years	26 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. J. Clark, Whitaker Place
Folio	05/188
Consent	Elvira Igetta Kelly, Mother
Date of Certificate	10 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Clark, Baptist

101

10 February 1905

George Henry Bowmar Cullen
Emma Nellie Drake

George Henry Bowman Cullen
Emma Nellie Drake
💍 1905/424

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

21
22

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
8 years

House of father of Bride, Henderson

05/1543

10 February 1905

Rev. W. Grigg, Methodist

No	101
Date of Notice	10 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Bowmar Cullen	Emma Nellie Drake
BDM Match (98%)	George Henry Bowman Cullen	Emma Nellie Drake
	💍 1905/424
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	8 years
Marriage Place	House of father of Bride, Henderson
Folio	05/1543
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Grigg, Methodist

102

10 February 1905

Horatio Charnock Hayward
Doreena Holbrook Lloyd

Horatio Charnock Hayward
Doreena Halbreath Lloyd
💍 1905/6255

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
26

Auckland
Auckland

7 months
2 weeks

St. Sepulchre's Church, Auckland

05/1257

10 February 1905

Rev. G. A. Carver, Church of England

No	102
Date of Notice	10 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horatio Charnock Hayward	Doreena Holbrook Lloyd
BDM Match (89%)	Horatio Charnock Hayward	Doreena Halbreath Lloyd
	💍 1905/6255
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	7 months	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Sepulchre's Church, Auckland
Folio	05/1257
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. A. Carver, Church of England

103

11 February 1905

William Cochrane
Louisa May Bryant

William Cochrane
Louisa May Bryant
💍 1905/5524

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier

23
18

Auckland
Auckland

20 years
3 years

Registrar Office, Auckland

05/31

Agnes Bryant, Mother

11 February 1905

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	103
Date of Notice	11 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Cochrane	Louisa May Bryant
	💍 1905/5524
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	20 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar Office, Auckland
Folio	05/31
Consent	Agnes Bryant, Mother
Date of Certificate	11 February 1905
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

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).