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 336

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

101

11 February 1905

Thomas Marshall
Caroline Ellen Nichols

Thomas Marshall
Caroline Ellen Nichols
💍 1905/5941

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

31
33

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
14 Months

Wesleyan Church, Taranaki Street

05/795

11 February 1905

Rev. E. W. Fairclough

No	101
Date of Notice	11 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Marshall	Caroline Ellen Nichols
	💍 1905/5941
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	31	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	14 Months
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Taranaki Street
Folio	05/795
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. W. Fairclough

102

11 February 1905

Ernest Norcol
Rosanna Draper

Ernest Nicol
Rosanna Draper
💍 1905/5934

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmill Hand

21
21

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

Residence of Mr. Draper, Pahautanui

05/788

11 February 1905

Rev. J. J. Lane

No	102
Date of Notice	11 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Norcol	Rosanna Draper
BDM Match (92%)	Ernest Nicol	Rosanna Draper
	💍 1905/5934
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmill Hand
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Draper, Pahautanui
Folio	05/788
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Lane

103

13 February 1905

Joseph Thomas Owen
Elizabeth Ellen Mitchell

Joseph Thomas Owen
Elizabeth Ellen Mitchell
💍 1905/5958

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

28
25

Porirua
Porirua

3 years
25 years

Residence of Mr. G. Mitchell, Porirua

05/873

13 February 1905

Rev. B. Metson

No	103
Date of Notice	13 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Thomas Owen	Elizabeth Ellen Mitchell
	💍 1905/5958
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Porirua	Porirua
Length of Residence	3 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. G. Mitchell, Porirua
Folio	05/873
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Metson

104

13 February 1905

Henry Simmonds
Minnie Agnes Newman

Henry Simmonds
Minnie Agnes Newman
💍 1905/4857

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

26
25

Wellington
Wellington

15 Months
4 days

Residence of Mr. Ruhl, Roseneath, Wellington

05/707

13 February 1905

Rev. J. Gibson Smith

No	104
Date of Notice	13 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Simmonds	Minnie Agnes Newman
	💍 1905/4857
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	15 Months	4 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Ruhl, Roseneath, Wellington
Folio	05/707
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibson Smith

105

13 February 1905

Robert Johnson
Annie Myrtle Meikle

Robert Johnson
Annie Myrtle Meikle
💍 1905/4920

Bachelor
Spinster

Tramway Guard

23
24

Wellington
Wellington

8 years
5 years

Residence of Mr. C. Sargent, Waripori Street, Wellington

05/739

13 February 1905

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	105
Date of Notice	13 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Johnson	Annie Myrtle Meikle
	💍 1905/4920
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tramway Guard
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. C. Sargent, Waripori Street, Wellington
Folio	05/739
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

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).