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 814

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1905 Registrar Edmund Humphrey Lyons

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

111

15 February 1905

Thomas Ashton Hale
Una Freda Farquhar

Thomas Ashton Hale
Una Freda Farquhar
💍 1905/5526

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

18
17

Auckland
Auckland

10 years
17 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

05/33

Thomas Hale, Father; Alex Farquhar, Father

15 February 1905

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	111
Date of Notice	15 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Ashton Hale	Una Freda Farquhar
	💍 1905/5526
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	18	17
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	05/33
Consent	Thomas Hale, Father; Alex Farquhar, Father
Date of Certificate	15 February 1905
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

112

16 February 1905

George Edwin Spooner
Kathleen Harvey Garland

George Edwin Spooner
Kathleen Harvey Garland
💍 1905/5587

Bachelor
Spinster

Coachbuilder

24
26

Auckland
Auckland

4 days
26 years

Methodist Church, Pitt Street, Auckland

05/170

16 February 1905

Rev. G. A. Garland, Methodist

No	112
Date of Notice	16 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Edwin Spooner	Kathleen Harvey Garland
	💍 1905/5587
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coachbuilder
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 days	26 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Pitt Street, Auckland
Folio	05/170
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. A. Garland, Methodist

113

16 February 1905

Francis Edward Amodeo
Edith Helen Smith

Francis Edward Amodeo
Edith Helen Smith
💍 1905/5495

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor

29
24

Auckland
Auckland

29 years
18 years

St. Matthews Church, Auckland

05/737

16 February 1905

Rev. W. E. Gillam, Church of England

No	113
Date of Notice	16 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Edward Amodeo	Edith Helen Smith
	💍 1905/5495
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	29 years	18 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Auckland
Folio	05/737
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Gillam, Church of England

114

17 February 1905

William Stephen Harris
Gertrude Ellen Porter

William Stephen Harris
Gertrude Ellen Porter
💍 1905/5754

Bachelor
Spinster

Millhand

25
22

Auckland
Auckland

20 years
22 years

Roman Catholic Church, Parnell

05/343

17 February 1905

Rev. J. P. Kehoe, Roman Catholic

No	114
Date of Notice	17 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Stephen Harris	Gertrude Ellen Porter
	💍 1905/5754
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Millhand
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	20 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Parnell
Folio	05/343
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. P. Kehoe, Roman Catholic

115

17 February 1905

Mabin Charles Rickalls
Margaret Brown

Mabin Charles Nickalls
Margaret Brown
💍 1905/5568

James Edwin Matchell
Margaret Brown
💍 1905/2557

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
23

Auckland
Auckland

24 years
23 years

St. Benedict Church, Auckland

05/149

17 February 1905

Rev. G. N. Gillan, Roman Catholic

No	115
Date of Notice	17 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Mabin Charles Rickalls	Margaret Brown
BDM Match (98%)	Mabin Charles Nickalls	Margaret Brown
	💍 1905/5568
BDM Match (61%)	James Edwin Matchell	Margaret Brown
	💍 1905/2557
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	24 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Benedict Church, Auckland
Folio	05/149
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. N. Gillan, Roman Catholic

116

18 February 1905

Thomas Henry Stevens
Ada Caroline Porter

Thomas Henry Stevens
Ada Caroline Porter
💍 1905/5628

Widower
Spinster

Grocer

46
36

Auckland
Buckland

26 years
1 year

Methodist Church, Buckland, Pukekohe

05/292

18 February 1905

Rev. C. Penney, Methodist

No	116
Date of Notice	18 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Stevens	Ada Caroline Porter
	💍 1905/5628
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	46	36
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Buckland
Length of Residence	26 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Buckland, Pukekohe
Folio	05/292
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Penney, Methodist

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).