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 422

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 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

518

31 July 1905

Cornelius Denny
Jessie Hutchinson

Cornelius Denny
Jessie Hutchinson
💍 1905/1699

Bachelor
Spinster

Chef

25
20

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
18 years

St. James Manse, Wellington South

05/4282

Mary Ann Johnson (Mother)

31 July 1905

Rev W. Shirer

No	518
Date of Notice	31 July 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cornelius Denny	Jessie Hutchinson
	💍 1905/1699
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chef
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	18 years
Marriage Place	St. James Manse, Wellington South
Folio	05/4282
Consent	Mary Ann Johnson (Mother)
Date of Certificate	31 July 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev W. Shirer

519

1 August 1905

Frederick Phillip Hawthorn
Thomasine Amy Jolley

Frederick Phillip Hawthorn
Thomasine Amy Jolley
💍 1905/1660

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

24
21

Wellington
Petone

24 years
21 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

05/4218

1 August 1905

G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

No	519
Date of Notice	1 August 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Phillip Hawthorn	Thomasine Amy Jolley
	💍 1905/1660
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Petone
Length of Residence	24 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	05/4218
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 August 1905
Officiating Minister	G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

520

1 August 1905

Thomas Baldwin
Mary Rose Jackman

Thomas Baldwin
Mary Rose Jackman
💍 1905/1906

Bachelor
Divorced (Decree absolute 15 June 1905)

Brickmaker

30
32

Wellington
Wellington

6 months
3 months

Residence of Mr. Adairs, 212 Taranaki Street, Wellington

05/4375

1 August 1905

Rev J. Dawson

No	520
Date of Notice	1 August 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Baldwin	Mary Rose Jackman
	💍 1905/1906
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (Decree absolute 15 June 1905)
Profession	Brickmaker
Age	30	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Adairs, 212 Taranaki Street, Wellington
Folio	05/4375
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 August 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Dawson

521

2 August 1905

Thomas Miller
Sarah Elizabeth Jenkins

Thomas Miller
Sarah Elizabeth Jenkins
💍 1905/2121

Widower (8 April 1904)
Spinster

Farmer

47
36

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
4 weeks

St. Andrews Manse, 33 Hill Street, Wellington

05/4573

2 August 1905

Rev G. G. Smith

No	521
Date of Notice	2 August 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Miller	Sarah Elizabeth Jenkins
	💍 1905/2121
Condition	Widower (8 April 1904)	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	47	36
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	4 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Manse, 33 Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	05/4573
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 August 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev G. G. Smith

522

2 August 1905

Walter James Stanley Joblin
Alice Brightling

Walter James Stanley Joblin
Alice Brightling
💍 1905/1893

Divorced (Decree absolute 7 March 1901)
Spinster

Farmer

51
35

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
6 weeks

Residence of Mr. Geo. Thompson, Takapau

05/4363

2 August 1905

Rev B. Metson

No	522
Date of Notice	2 August 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter James Stanley Joblin	Alice Brightling
	💍 1905/1893
Condition	Divorced (Decree absolute 7 March 1901)	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	51	35
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Geo. Thompson, Takapau
Folio	05/4363
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 August 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev B. Metson

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).