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 184

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 31 March 1905 Registrar Robert North Keeling

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

2 January 1905

Arthur George Roe
Mabel Elizabeth Leek

Arthur George Roe
Mabel Elizabeth Fleek
💍 1905/5824

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

23
22

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

23 years
6 years

Emanuel Congregational Church, Palmerston North

05/7547

2 January 1905

Rev. S. J. Baker, Congregational Minister, Palmerston North

No	1
Date of Notice	2 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur George Roe	Mabel Elizabeth Leek
BDM Match (95%)	Arthur George Roe	Mabel Elizabeth Fleek
	💍 1905/5824
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	23 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Emanuel Congregational Church, Palmerston North
Folio	05/7547
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. J. Baker, Congregational Minister, Palmerston North

12 January 1905

John Watterson Merritt
Edith Maude Merritt

John Watterson
Edith Maud Merritt
💍 1905/5808

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

22
19

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

9 weeks
15 months

At the office of the Registrar, Palmerston North

05/555

John Merritt, father

19 January 1905

Robt. N. Keeling, Registrar, Palmerston North

No	2
Date of Notice	12 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Watterson Merritt	Edith Maude Merritt
BDM Match (79%)	John Watterson	Edith Maud Merritt
	💍 1905/5808
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	9 weeks	15 months
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar, Palmerston North
Folio	05/555
Consent	John Merritt, father
Date of Certificate	19 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Robt. N. Keeling, Registrar, Palmerston North

16 January 1905

Henry James Shailer
Victoria May Richardson

Henry James Shailer
Victoria May Richardson
💍 1905/5823

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener

21
18

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

21 years
18 years

At the house of G. W. Shailer, Palmerston North

05/546

George Thomas Richardson, father

16 January 1905

Rev. J. J. Mather, Methodist Minister, Palmerston North

No	3
Date of Notice	16 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry James Shailer	Victoria May Richardson
	💍 1905/5823
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	21 years	18 years
Marriage Place	At the house of G. W. Shailer, Palmerston North
Folio	05/546
Consent	George Thomas Richardson, father
Date of Certificate	16 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Mather, Methodist Minister, Palmerston North

17 January 1905

John Barwise Murray
Edith Mary Garland

John Barwise Murray
Edith Mary Farland
💍 1905/5801

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer
Dressmaker

22
24

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

2 years
8 years

At the house of Mrs. Garland, Palmerston North

05/540

17 January 1905

Rev. Isaac Jolly, Presbyterian Minister, Palmerston North

No	4
Date of Notice	17 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Barwise Murray	Edith Mary Garland
BDM Match (97%)	John Barwise Murray	Edith Mary Farland
	💍 1905/5801
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer	Dressmaker
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	2 years	8 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Mrs. Garland, Palmerston North
Folio	05/540
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. Isaac Jolly, Presbyterian Minister, Palmerston North

18 January 1905

Alfred George Reid Setter
Anna Magdalena Setter

Alfred George Reid
Anna Magdalena Setter
💍 1905/5809

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

22
18

Kelvin Grove
Kelvin Grove

3 days
18 years

At the office of the Registrar, Palmerston North

05/556

Casper Setter, father

18 January 1905

Robt. N. Keeling, Registrar, Palmerston North

No	5
Date of Notice	18 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred George Reid Setter	Anna Magdalena Setter
BDM Match (86%)	Alfred George Reid	Anna Magdalena Setter
	💍 1905/5809
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Kelvin Grove	Kelvin Grove
Length of Residence	3 days	18 years
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar, Palmerston North
Folio	05/556
Consent	Casper Setter, father
Date of Certificate	18 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Robt. N. Keeling, Registrar, Palmerston North

18 January 1905

Robert Edward Brooke Pepper
Mary White

Robert Edward Brooke Pepper
Mary White
💍 1905/5822

Walter Frederick Ward
Mary White
💍 1905/5366

Bachelor
Spinster, Divorced

Sailor
Dressmaker

38
35

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

5 months
6 months

At the house of Robert Edward Brooke Pepper, Palmerston North

05/545

18 January 1905

Rev. Hugh Beggs, Methodist Minister, Palmerston North

No	6
Date of Notice	18 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Edward Brooke Pepper	Mary White
	💍 1905/5822
BDM Match (61%)	Walter Frederick Ward	Mary White
	💍 1905/5366
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster, Divorced
Profession	Sailor	Dressmaker
Age	38	35
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	5 months	6 months
Marriage Place	At the house of Robert Edward Brooke Pepper, Palmerston North
Folio	05/545
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. Hugh Beggs, Methodist Minister, Palmerston North

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).