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 768

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 June 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

385

27 May 1905

Robert Hope McCallum
Henrietta West

Robert Hope McCallum
Henrietta West
💍 1905/5133

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

40
22

Auckland
Auckland

27 years
22 years

All Saints' Church, Auckland

05/1678

27 May 1905

Ven. Arch. W. Calder, Church of England

No	385
Date of Notice	27 May 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Hope McCallum	Henrietta West
	💍 1905/5133
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	40	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	27 years	22 years
Marriage Place	All Saints' Church, Auckland
Folio	05/1678
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 May 1905
Officiating Minister	Ven. Arch. W. Calder, Church of England

386

27 May 1905

Malcolm Turner
Esther Alice Leaity

Malcolm Turner
Esther Alice Leaity
💍 1905/6442

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman

23
20

Auckland
Auckland

22 years
21 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

05/1649

27 May 1905

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	386
Date of Notice	27 May 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Malcolm Turner	Esther Alice Leaity
	💍 1905/6442
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	22 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	05/1649
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 May 1905
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

387

27 May 1905

Caleb Clifton Sayers
Mary Louisa Jones

Caleb Clifton Sayers
Mary Louisa Jones
💍 1905/6619

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

23
22

Auckland
Auckland

19 years
8 years

Baptist Tabernacle, Auckland

05/1806

27 May 1905

Rev. J. Clark, Baptist

No	387
Date of Notice	27 May 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Caleb Clifton Sayers	Mary Louisa Jones
	💍 1905/6619
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	19 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Tabernacle, Auckland
Folio	05/1806
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 May 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Clark, Baptist

388

27 May 1905

Alexander Jardine McDougall
Mabel Rhodes

Alexander Jardine McDougall
Mabel Rhodes
💍 1905/6605

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

21
21

Auckland
Auckland

11 years
21 years

Congregational Church, Beresford Street

05/1793

27 May 1905

Rev. J. Willis, Congregational

No	388
Date of Notice	27 May 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Jardine McDougall	Mabel Rhodes
	💍 1905/6605
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	11 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Beresford Street
Folio	05/1793
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 May 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Willis, Congregational

389

27 May 1905

Eli Paris
Mary Johnston Shearer

Eli Paris
Mary Johnston Shearer
💍 1905/6527

Widower
Spinster

Carter

43
39

Auckland
Auckland

43 years
39 years

House of Father of Bride, Parnell

05/1732

27 May 1905

Rev. H. B. Gray, Presbyterian

No	389
Date of Notice	27 May 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eli Paris	Mary Johnston Shearer
	💍 1905/6527
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	43	39
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	43 years	39 years
Marriage Place	House of Father of Bride, Parnell
Folio	05/1732
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 May 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. B. Gray, Presbyterian

390

29 May 1905

Henry Wilson Clarke
Ethel Jutt

Henry Wilson Clarke
Ethel Tutt
💍 1905/333

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier

29
25

Auckland
Auckland

21 years
20 years

Methodist Church, Kingsland

05/3568

29 May 1905

Rev. J. W. Newbold, Methodist

No	390
Date of Notice	29 May 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Wilson Clarke	Ethel Jutt
BDM Match (95%)	Henry Wilson Clarke	Ethel Tutt
	💍 1905/333
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	21 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Kingsland
Folio	05/3568
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Newbold, 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).