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 256

District of Shannon Quarter ending 30 June 1905 Registrar William Charles Nation

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

165

20 April 1905

Henry Nelson
Lizzy Maria Devine

Henry Nelson
Lizzie Maria Devine
💍 1905/6907

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Domestic duties

24
26

Levin
Whiteman's Valley

1 year
Twenty-six years

Wesleyan Church, Whiteman's Valley

05/2451

20 April 1905

Rev. J. J. Garlier

No	165
Date of Notice	20 April 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Nelson	Lizzy Maria Devine
BDM Match (95%)	Henry Nelson	Lizzie Maria Devine
	💍 1905/6907
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Domestic duties
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Levin	Whiteman's Valley
Length of Residence	1 year	Twenty-six years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Whiteman's Valley
Folio	05/2451
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 April 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Garlier

166

22 April 1905

John Knight Richards
Evangeline Anderson

John Knight Richards
Evangeline Anderson
💍 1905/5288

Divorced
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic duties

35
24

Levin
Levin

Three days
Three days

Office of the Registrar, Levin

05/2232

22 April 1905

M. C. Nation, Registrar

No	166
Date of Notice	22 April 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Knight Richards	Evangeline Anderson
	💍 1905/5288
Condition	Divorced	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic duties
Age	35	24
Dwelling Place	Levin	Levin
Length of Residence	Three days	Three days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Levin
Folio	05/2232
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1905
Officiating Minister	M. C. Nation, Registrar

167

26 April 1905

Phillip James Kingdon
Margaret Thompson

Philip Samson Kingsbeer
Margaret Thompson
💍 1905/5289

Bachelor
Spinster

Platelayer
Domestic duties

21
21

Koputaroa
Koputaroa

Seven years
Seven years

Residence of Mr. Henry Thompson, Koputaroa

05/2233

26 April 1905

Rev. M. Finlayson

No	167
Date of Notice	26 April 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Phillip James Kingdon	Margaret Thompson
BDM Match (78%)	Philip Samson Kingsbeer	Margaret Thompson
	💍 1905/5289
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Platelayer	Domestic duties
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Koputaroa	Koputaroa
Length of Residence	Seven years	Seven years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Henry Thompson, Koputaroa
Folio	05/2233
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 April 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Finlayson

168

2 June 1905

Walter Robert Ingram
Mary Taylor

Walter Robert Ingram
Mary Eva Taylor
💍 1905/6825

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

27
30

Levin
Makino

Nine years
Twelve years

Residence of Mr. J. H. Taylor, Makino, Feilding

05/2158

2 June 1905

Rev. P. M. Jones

No	168
Date of Notice	2 June 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Robert Ingram	Mary Taylor
BDM Match (87%)	Walter Robert Ingram	Mary Eva Taylor
	💍 1905/6825
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	27	30
Dwelling Place	Levin	Makino
Length of Residence	Nine years	Twelve years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. H. Taylor, Makino, Feilding
Folio	05/2158
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. M. Jones

169

24 June 1905

Nathaniel Harvey Stuart
Louisa Spencer

Nathaniel Harry Stuart
Louisa Spencer
💍 1905/5290

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic duties

44
31

Levin
Horowhenua Village Settlement

Three days
Four years

Residence of Miss Spencer, Horowhenua Village Settlement

05/2234

24 June 1905

Rev. J. Wrigley

No	169
Date of Notice	24 June 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Nathaniel Harvey Stuart	Louisa Spencer
BDM Match (96%)	Nathaniel Harry Stuart	Louisa Spencer
	💍 1905/5290
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic duties
Age	44	31
Dwelling Place	Levin	Horowhenua Village Settlement
Length of Residence	Three days	Four years
Marriage Place	Residence of Miss Spencer, Horowhenua Village Settlement
Folio	05/2234
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 June 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Wrigley

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).