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 330

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1905 Registrar Gilbert Graham Hodgkins

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

31 January 1905

Charles William McCarthy
Edith Eliza Sawers

Charles William McCarthy
Edith Eliza Burns
💍 1905/7259

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

26
16

Wellington
Wellington

26 years
6 years

Residence of Mr. Lloyd, 13 Berhampore Street

05/822

Henry Steven Brown, Father

31 January 1905

Rev. G. Dallaston

No	71
Date of Notice	31 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles William McCarthy	Edith Eliza Sawers
BDM Match (86%)	Charles William McCarthy	Edith Eliza Burns
	💍 1905/7259
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	26	16
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	26 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Lloyd, 13 Berhampore Street
Folio	05/822
Consent	Henry Steven Brown, Father
Date of Certificate	31 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Dallaston

31 January 1905

Peter John Miller
Amelia Elizabeth Watson

Peter John Miller
Amelia Elizabeth Watson
💍 1905/5884

Bachelor
Spinster

Tinsmith

25
22

Wellington
Wellington

25 years
22 years

St. Peter's Church, Willis Street

05/685

31 January 1905

Rev. G. P. Davys

No	72
Date of Notice	31 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter John Miller	Amelia Elizabeth Watson
	💍 1905/5884
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tinsmith
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	25 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Willis Street
Folio	05/685
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. P. Davys

31 January 1905

Samuel Halford
Ellen Eliza Goodall

Samuel Halford
Ellen Eliza Goodall
💍 1905/4895

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

40
40

Wellington
Wellington

10 years
12 years

Central Mission Hall, Herbert Street, Wellington

05/831

31 January 1905

Mr. N. Turner

No	73
Date of Notice	31 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Halford	Ellen Eliza Goodall
	💍 1905/4895
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	40	40
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Central Mission Hall, Herbert Street, Wellington
Folio	05/831
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Mr. N. Turner

31 January 1905

John Joseph Gleeson
Emily Mary White

John Jospeh Gleeson
Emily Mary White
💍 1905/5936

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

38
36

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
5 months

Sacred Heart Church, Hill Street, Wellington

05/770

31 January 1905

Rev. J. McKenna

No	74
Date of Notice	31 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Joseph Gleeson	Emily Mary White
BDM Match (95%)	John Jospeh Gleeson	Emily Mary White
	💍 1905/5936
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	38	36
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	5 months
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Church, Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	05/770
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. McKenna

31 January 1905

Frederick Robert Cooper
Edith Maude McDonald

Frederick Robert Cooper
Edith Maude McDonald
💍 1905/5928

Bachelor
Spinster

Seedsman

29
27

Wellington
Wellington

29 years
27 years

St. Joseph's Church, Buckle Street, Wellington

05/780

31 January 1905

Rev. T. O'Shea

No	75
Date of Notice	31 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Robert Cooper	Edith Maude McDonald
	💍 1905/5928
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seedsman
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	29 years	27 years
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Church, Buckle Street, Wellington
Folio	05/780
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. O'Shea

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).