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 338

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

111

14 February 1905

John Charlton Neilson
Christina Andrew

John Charlton Neilson
Christina Andrew
💍 1905/143

Bachelor
Spinster

Tinsmith

23
27

Petone
Petone

5 months
5 months

Registrars Office, Wellington

05/645

14 February 1905

G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

No	111
Date of Notice	14 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Charlton Neilson	Christina Andrew
	💍 1905/143
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tinsmith
Age	23	27
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	5 months	5 months
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Wellington
Folio	05/645
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1905
Officiating Minister	G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

112

15 February 1905

Nicholas Bouzaid
Louisa Bouzaid

Nicolas Bouzaid
Louisa Bouzaid
💍 1905/5925

Bachelor
Spinster

Fancy Goods Dealer

28
18

Wellington
Wellington

6 years
12 years

Sacred Heart Church, Hill Street, Wellington

05/769

George Bouzaid, Father

15 February 1905

Rev. W. G. Lewis

No	112
Date of Notice	15 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Nicholas Bouzaid	Louisa Bouzaid
BDM Match (97%)	Nicolas Bouzaid	Louisa Bouzaid
	💍 1905/5925
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fancy Goods Dealer
Age	28	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Church, Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	05/769
Consent	George Bouzaid, Father
Date of Certificate	15 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Lewis

113

15 February 1905

James Scott
Margaret Peters

James Scutt
Margaret Peters
💍 1905/4921

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

32
21

Wellington
Wellington

27 years
2 years

Residence of U. S. B. Walker, 7 Home Street, Wellington

05/740

15 February 1905

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	113
Date of Notice	15 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Scott	Margaret Peters
BDM Match (95%)	James Scutt	Margaret Peters
	💍 1905/4921
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	27 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of U. S. B. Walker, 7 Home Street, Wellington
Folio	05/740
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

114

15 February 1905

Frederick William Taylor
Katherine Theresa Ryan

Frederick William Taylor
Katherine Teresa Ryan
💍 1905/5935

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger

28
29

Wellington
Wellington

3 months
3 months

Roman Catholic Church, Lower Hutt

05/789

15 February 1905

Rev. J. J. Lane

No	114
Date of Notice	15 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Taylor	Katherine Theresa Ryan
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick William Taylor	Katherine Teresa Ryan
	💍 1905/5935
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Lower Hutt
Folio	05/789
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Lane

115

15 February 1905

Henry Edmond Harrap
Rosina Johnson

Henry Edmond Harrap
Rosina Johnson
💍 1905/150

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

26
23

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
5 years

Registrars Office, Wellington

05/646

15 February 1905

G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

No	115
Date of Notice	15 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Edmond Harrap	Rosina Johnson
	💍 1905/150
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Wellington
Folio	05/646
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1905
Officiating Minister	G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

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 1908. 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).