Intentions to Marry, 1905 Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840428, 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 091

District of Foxton Quarter ending 31 December 1905 Registrar A. D. Clemett

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

10 October 1905

John Lyne
Maria White

John Lyne
Maria White
💍 1905/3284

Widower
Widow

Labourer
Domestic

40
41

Foxton
Foxton

20 years
4 days

Private house of Fred Taylor, Foxton

05/5775

10 October 1905

Rev. Jacob Featherston, Methodist

No	60
Date of Notice	10 October 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Lyne	Maria White
	💍 1905/3284
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	40	41
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	20 years	4 days
Marriage Place	Private house of Fred Taylor, Foxton
Folio	05/5775
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 October 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jacob Featherston, Methodist

14 November 1905

Henry Williams Richmond
Elizabeth Stanley

Henry Williams Richmond
Elizabeth Ganley
💍 1905/3276

Widower
Spinster

Wheelwright
Domestic

52
42

Foxton
Foxton

2 years
2 months

Office of the Registrar, Foxton

05/5774

14 November 1905

A. D. Clemett, Registrar

No	61
Date of Notice	14 November 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Williams Richmond	Elizabeth Stanley
BDM Match (94%)	Henry Williams Richmond	Elizabeth Ganley
	💍 1905/3276
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Wheelwright	Domestic
Age	52	42
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	2 years	2 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Foxton
Folio	05/5774
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 November 1905
Officiating Minister	A. D. Clemett, Registrar

21 November 1905

Hugh McLaggan
Elizabeth Maud Simpson

Hugh McLaggan
Elizabeth Maud Simpson
💍 1905/3295

Hugh McLachlan
Ada Williams Simpson
💍 1905/1810

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill Manager
Domestic Duties

31
22

Haverley
Foxton

6 months
22 years

Methodist Church, Main St, Foxton

05/5776

21 November 1905

Rev. Jacob Featherston, Methodist

No	62
Date of Notice	21 November 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh McLaggan	Elizabeth Maud Simpson
	💍 1905/3295
BDM Match (62%)	Hugh McLachlan	Ada Williams Simpson
	💍 1905/1810
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill Manager	Domestic Duties
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Haverley	Foxton
Length of Residence	6 months	22 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Main St, Foxton
Folio	05/5776
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 November 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jacob Featherston, Methodist

29 November 1905

Richard Allen Easton
Christina Ada Seabury

Richard Allen Easton
Christina Ada Seabury
💍 1905/4172

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

21
19

Foxton
Foxton

21 years
19 years

All Saints Church, Foxton

05/6717

29 November 1905

Rev. H. F. Wilson, Anglican

No	63
Date of Notice	29 November 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Allen Easton	Christina Ada Seabury
	💍 1905/4172
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	21 years	19 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Foxton
Folio	05/6717
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 November 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. F. Wilson, Anglican

22 December 1905

Henry Charles Faulkner
Edith Maud Rodden

Henry Charles Faulkner
Edith Maud Hodren
💍 1905/3497

Bachelor
Spinster

Cook
Domestic Duties

26
26

Oroua Bridge
Millington

3 months
3 years

St. Peters Church, Millington

05/5975

22 December 1905

Rev. G. P. Davys

No	64
Date of Notice	22 December 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Charles Faulkner	Edith Maud Rodden
BDM Match (94%)	Henry Charles Faulkner	Edith Maud Hodren
	💍 1905/3497
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cook	Domestic Duties
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Oroua Bridge	Millington
Length of Residence	3 months	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church, Millington
Folio	05/5975
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. P. Davys

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).