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 699

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 December 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

800

16 November 1905

William Alfred May
Caroline Paulsen

William Alfred May
Caroline Paulsen
💍 1905/2930

Bachelor
Spinster

Boiler Maker

31
33

Auckland
Auckland

31 years
4 years

Methodist Church, Grafton Road

05/5422

16 November 1905

Rev. F. J. Lewis, Methodist

No	800
Date of Notice	16 November 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alfred May	Caroline Paulsen
	💍 1905/2930
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boiler Maker
Age	31	33
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	31 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Grafton Road
Folio	05/5422
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 November 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. J. Lewis, Methodist

801

16 November 1905

William Keay Hitchens
Violet Hebburn

Bachelor
Spinster

Jeweller

22
19

Auckland
Auckland

14 years
19 years

House of Father of Bride, Symonds St.

05/5380

Father of Bride

16 November 1905

Rev. R. Somerville, Presbyterian

No	801
Date of Notice	16 November 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Keay Hitchens	Violet Hebburn
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jeweller
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	14 years	19 years
Marriage Place	House of Father of Bride, Symonds St.
Folio	05/5380
Consent	Father of Bride
Date of Certificate	16 November 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Somerville, Presbyterian

802

20 November 1905

Edwin Wade Brabant
Irene Emily

Bachelor
Spinster

Manager, Motor Agency

29
21

Auckland
Auckland

5 years
8 years

Church of England, Devonport

05/5352

20 November 1905

Rev. E. H. Wyatt, Anglican

No	802
Date of Notice	20 November 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Wade Brabant	Irene Emily
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Manager, Motor Agency
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Devonport
Folio	05/5352
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 November 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. H. Wyatt, Anglican

803

20 November 1905

James Gadd Storey
Ellen Stupe

James Gadd
Ellen Spyve
💍 1905/4581

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

25
19

Auckland
Auckland

4 days
2 years

House of Father of Bride, Vermont St.

05/7126

Sarah Ann, Father of Bride

20 November 1905

Rev. E. S. Patchett, Methodist

No	803
Date of Notice	20 November 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Gadd Storey	Ellen Stupe
BDM Match (66%)	James Gadd	Ellen Spyve
	💍 1905/4581
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 days	2 years
Marriage Place	House of Father of Bride, Vermont St.
Folio	05/7126
Consent	Sarah Ann, Father of Bride
Date of Certificate	20 November 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. S. Patchett, Methodist

804

21 November 1905

Frederick Hamilton Forde
Amelia Mabel Morris

Frederick Hamilton Forde
Amelia Mabel Morris
💍 1905/2886

Widower
Spinster

Importer

43
33

Auckland
Auckland

43 years
11 years

St. Barnabas Church, Mt. Eden

05/5332

21 November 1905

Rev. E. J. McFarland, Anglican

No	804
Date of Notice	21 November 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Hamilton Forde	Amelia Mabel Morris
	💍 1905/2886
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Importer
Age	43	33
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	43 years	11 years
Marriage Place	St. Barnabas Church, Mt. Eden
Folio	05/5332
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 November 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. J. McFarland, Anglican

805

21 November 1905

William Henry Aatran
Minnie Welch

William Henry Aghan
Minnie Welch
💍 1905/2983

Bachelor
Spinster

Estate Agent

28
20

Auckland
Auckland

3 years
4 years

Church of Christ, Ponsonby Rd.

05/5450

John Welch, Father

21 November 1905

Mr. C. Watt, Church of Christ

No	805
Date of Notice	21 November 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Aatran	Minnie Welch
BDM Match (93%)	William Henry Aghan	Minnie Welch
	💍 1905/2983
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Estate Agent
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Ponsonby Rd.
Folio	05/5450
Consent	John Welch, Father
Date of Certificate	21 November 1905
Officiating Minister	Mr. C. Watt, Church of Christ

806

22 November 1905

John Morgan Back
Agnes Wilson

John Morgan
Agnes Wilson
💍 1905/519

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

32
30

Auckland
Auckland

5 months
20 years

Registrars Office, Auckland

05/5291

22 November 1905

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	806
Date of Notice	22 November 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Morgan Back	Agnes Wilson
BDM Match (84%)	John Morgan	Agnes Wilson
	💍 1905/519
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	32	30
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 months	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Auckland
Folio	05/5291
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 November 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).