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 812

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

124

20 February 1905

Alfred Thomas Williams
Margaret Elizabeth Christmann

Alfred Thomas Williams
Margaret Elizabeth Christmann
💍 1905/6256

Bachelor
Spinster

Millhand

28
27

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
6 months

St. Sepulchre's Church, Auckland

05/1258

20 February 1905

Rev. G. A. Carver, Church of England

No	124
Date of Notice	20 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Thomas Williams	Margaret Elizabeth Christmann
	💍 1905/6256
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Millhand
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	6 months
Marriage Place	St. Sepulchre's Church, Auckland
Folio	05/1258
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. A. Carver, Church of England

125

20 February 1905

Michael Dempsey
Matilda O'Dowd

Michael Dempsey
Matilda O'Dowd
💍 1905/5588

Bachelor
Spinster

Cloth Miller

27
26

Onehunga
Auckland

2 years
26 years

Roman Catholic Church, Onehunga

05/153

20 February 1905

Rev. J. Duffy, Roman Catholic

No	125
Date of Notice	20 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Dempsey	Matilda O'Dowd
	💍 1905/5588
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cloth Miller
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Onehunga	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Onehunga
Folio	05/153
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Duffy, Roman Catholic

126

21 February 1905

George Charles Hilkins
Edith Harriet Hilkins

George Charles
Edith Harriet Wilkins
💍 1905/6613

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

28
27

Auckland
Auckland

2 years
3 months

Primitive Methodist Church, Alexander Street, Auckland

05/1783

21 February 1905

Rev. R. Hall, Primitive Methodist

No	126
Date of Notice	21 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Charles Hilkins	Edith Harriet Hilkins
BDM Match (79%)	George Charles	Edith Harriet Wilkins
	💍 1905/6613
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Alexander Street, Auckland
Folio	05/1783
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Hall, Primitive Methodist

127

21 February 1905

George Nelson Bryant
Sarah Higham

George Nelson Bryant
Sarah Higham
💍 1905/5575

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32
27

Auckland
Auckland

32 years

House of Father of Bride, Nia

05/134

21 February 1905

Rev. A. Maclean, Presbyterian

No	127
Date of Notice	21 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Nelson Bryant	Sarah Higham
	💍 1905/5575
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	32 years
Marriage Place	House of Father of Bride, Nia
Folio	05/134
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Maclean, Presbyterian

128

21 February 1905

George Benjamin Jacobs
Florence Webber

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

33
19

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
3 years

All Saints Church, Auckland

05/71

George Webber, father of bride

21 February 1905

Ven. Archdeacon W. Calder, Church of England

No	128
Date of Notice	21 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Benjamin Jacobs	Florence Webber
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	33	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Auckland
Folio	05/71
Consent	George Webber, father of bride
Date of Certificate	21 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon W. Calder, Church of England

129

21 February 1905

George Edward Thomson
Margaret McNutt

George Edward Thomson
Margaret McNutt
💍 1905/71

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee

26
26

Auckland
Auckland

4 days
20 years

House of Father of Bride, Woodside, Papatoitoi

05/125

21 February 1905

Rev. A. Doull, Presbyterian

No	129
Date of Notice	21 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Edward Thomson	Margaret McNutt
	💍 1905/71
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 days	20 years
Marriage Place	House of Father of Bride, Woodside, Papatoitoi
Folio	05/125
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 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).