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 392

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 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

375

25 May 1905

Julius Abrahamsen
Harriet Annie Barbor

Julius Abrahamson
Harriet Annie Barbor
💍 1905/372

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

47
40

Roseneath
Wellington

3 years
8 years

St. James Church, South

05/2371

25 May 1905

Rev. W. Fraser

No	375
Date of Notice	25 May 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Julius Abrahamsen	Harriet Annie Barbor
BDM Match (97%)	Julius Abrahamson	Harriet Annie Barbor
	💍 1905/372
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	47	40
Dwelling Place	Roseneath	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St. James Church, South
Folio	05/2371
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 May 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Fraser

376

25 May 1905

Reginald Charles Gates
Margaret Agnes Stunniford

Reginald Charles Yates
Margaret Agnes Huniford
💍 1905/7026

Bachelor
Spinster

Porter, N.Z. Railways

25
31

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
7 days

Sacred Heart Church, Hill Street, Wellington

05/2422

25 May 1905

Rev. J. R. Holley

No	376
Date of Notice	25 May 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Charles Gates	Margaret Agnes Stunniford
BDM Match (92%)	Reginald Charles Yates	Margaret Agnes Huniford
	💍 1905/7026
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Porter, N.Z. Railways
Age	25	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	7 days
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Church, Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	05/2422
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 May 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Holley

377

26 May 1905

Arthur Ernest Turner
Madge Louisa Watson

Arthur Ernest Turner
Madge Louisa Watson
💍 1905/1900

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinetmaker

24
23

Wellington
Roseneath

11 years
14 years

Residence of Mr. H. J. Freeman, 10 Drummond Street, Wellington

05/2470

26 May 1905

Rev. J. Dawson

No	377
Date of Notice	26 May 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Ernest Turner	Madge Louisa Watson
	💍 1905/1900
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinetmaker
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Roseneath
Length of Residence	11 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. H. J. Freeman, 10 Drummond Street, Wellington
Folio	05/2470
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 May 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Dawson

378

27 May 1905

John Patrick Hackett McGive
Mary O'Brien

John Patrick Hackett McGuire
Mary O'Brien
💍 1905/7033

John Masterton Coats
Mary O'Brien
💍 1905/6517

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

37
30

Wellington
Wellington

9 years
9 years

St. Joseph's Church, Panckike Street, Wellington

05/2429

27 May 1905

Rev. F. O'Shea

No	378
Date of Notice	27 May 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Patrick Hackett McGive	Mary O'Brien
BDM Match (96%)	John Patrick Hackett McGuire	Mary O'Brien
	💍 1905/7033
BDM Match (65%)	John Masterton Coats	Mary O'Brien
	💍 1905/6517
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	37	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 years	9 years
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Church, Panckike Street, Wellington
Folio	05/2429
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 May 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. O'Shea

379

29 May 1905

Alfred John Ernest Wiggs
Mabel L. Strange Blacket

Alfred John Ernest Wriggs
Mabel L'Strange Blacket
💍 1905/6846

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

27
23

Wellington
Wellington

7 years
3 months

Registrar Office, Wellington

05/2313

29 May 1905

G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

No	379
Date of Notice	29 May 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred John Ernest Wiggs	Mabel L. Strange Blacket
BDM Match (94%)	Alfred John Ernest Wriggs	Mabel L'Strange Blacket
	💍 1905/6846
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Registrar Office, Wellington
Folio	05/2313
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 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 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).