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 806

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

161

2 March 1905

Albert John Fitzroy Johnson
Margaret McDermott

Albert John Fitzroy Johnson
Margaret McDermott
💍 1905/5562

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

22
22

Auckland
Auckland

10 years
20 years

House of Mother of Bride, Lower Hobson Street, Auckland

05/144

2 March 1905

Rev. A. H. Holbrook, Roman Catholic

No	161
Date of Notice	2 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert John Fitzroy Johnson	Margaret McDermott
	💍 1905/5562
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 years	20 years
Marriage Place	House of Mother of Bride, Lower Hobson Street, Auckland
Folio	05/144
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Holbrook, Roman Catholic

162

2 March 1905

Frederick Hugh Wilson
Jessie Ford

Frederick Hugh Wilson
Jessie Ford
💍 1905/62

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

42
41

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
26 years

St. Luke's Church, Remuera

05/116

2 March 1905

Rev. J. B. Monro, Presbyterian

No	162
Date of Notice	2 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Hugh Wilson	Jessie Ford
	💍 1905/62
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	42	41
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	26 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Remuera
Folio	05/116
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. B. Monro, Presbyterian

163

2 March 1905

Henry Kissel Merrington
Bertha Maria Hamilton

Henry Kissel
Bertha Maria Merrington
💍 1905/6654

Widower
Spinster

Civil Servant

44
25

Hamilton
Hamilton

14 years
6 years

Church of England, Hamilton

05/1870

2 March 1905

Rev. R. C. W. Radcliffe, Anglican

No	163
Date of Notice	2 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Kissel Merrington	Bertha Maria Hamilton
BDM Match (63%)	Henry Kissel	Bertha Maria Merrington
	💍 1905/6654
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	44	25
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	14 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Hamilton
Folio	05/1870
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. C. W. Radcliffe, Anglican

164

3 March 1905

Charles Benjamin Roper
Jane Elizabeth Hayhow

Charles Benjamin Roper
Jane Elizabeth Hayhow
💍 1905/5592

Bachelor
Spinster

Fruit Grower

25
24

Auckland
Auckland

18 years
24 years

St. John's Church, Ponsonby

05/174

3 March 1905

Rev. W. Grigg, Methodist

No	164
Date of Notice	3 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Benjamin Roper	Jane Elizabeth Hayhow
	💍 1905/5592
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fruit Grower
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	18 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Ponsonby
Folio	05/174
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Grigg, Methodist

165

3 March 1905

John Stewart Howison
Edith Taylor

John Stewart Howison
Edith Taylor
💍 1905/5508

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

25
24

Auckland
Auckland

4 months
3 months

Registrar's Office, Auckland

05/39

3 March 1905

W. Sulpan, Deputy Registrar

No	165
Date of Notice	3 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Stewart Howison	Edith Taylor
	💍 1905/5508
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	05/39
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1905
Officiating Minister	W. Sulpan, Deputy Registrar

166

3 March 1905

Walter Richard Knight
Mary Moore

Walter Richard Knight
Mary Moore
💍 1905/80

Bachelor
Spinster

Orchardist

30
22

Auckland
Auckland

10 years
22 years

Primitive Methodist Church, Alexandra Street, Auckland

05/202

3 March 1905

Rev. G. Warburton, Methodist

No	166
Date of Notice	3 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Richard Knight	Mary Moore
	💍 1905/80
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Orchardist
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Alexandra Street, Auckland
Folio	05/202
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Warburton, 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).