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 704

District of Hokitika Quarter ending 31 December 1905 Registrar Douglas St George

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

3 October 1905

Walter David Lines
Maria King

Walter David Lines
Maria King
💍 1905/3798

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic

26 years
19 years

Goldsborough
Goldsborough

3 days
19 years

Church of England Goldsborough

05/631

Catherine Elizabeth King, Mother

3 October 1905

Hall Smyth, Church of England

No	29
Date of Notice	3 October 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter David Lines	Maria King
	💍 1905/3798
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic
Age	26 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Goldsborough	Goldsborough
Length of Residence	3 days	19 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Goldsborough
Folio	05/631
Consent	Catherine Elizabeth King, Mother
Date of Certificate	3 October 1905
Officiating Minister	Hall Smyth, Church of England

19 October 1905

William Herbert Robinson
Margaret Mahar

William Herbert Robinson
Margaret Maher
💍 1905/3782

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Dressmaker

28 years
25 years

Hokitika
Hokitika

25 years
7 years

Catholic Church Hokitika

05/6313

19 October 1905

Paul Aubry, Roman Catholic

No	30
Date of Notice	19 October 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Herbert Robinson	Margaret Mahar
BDM Match (96%)	William Herbert Robinson	Margaret Maher
	💍 1905/3782
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Dressmaker
Age	28 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	25 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church Hokitika
Folio	05/6313
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 October 1905
Officiating Minister	Paul Aubry, Roman Catholic

30 October 1905

Walter Rudolph Meyer
Winifred Rose Thorpe

Walter Rudolph Inezer
Winnifred Rose A Thorpe
💍 1905/3801

Bachelor
Spinster

Dredgeman
Domestic

26 years
24 years

Hokitika
Woodstock

3 days
24 years

Presbyterian Church Woodstock

05/6315

30 October 1905

Wm Douglas, Presbyterian

No	31
Date of Notice	30 October 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Rudolph Meyer	Winifred Rose Thorpe
BDM Match (86%)	Walter Rudolph Inezer	Winnifred Rose A Thorpe
	💍 1905/3801
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dredgeman	Domestic
Age	26 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Woodstock
Length of Residence	3 days	24 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Woodstock
Folio	05/6315
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 October 1905
Officiating Minister	Wm Douglas, Presbyterian

November 1905

Hawthorn Hugh Adamson
Ellen Ferguson

Hawthorn Hugh Adamson
Ellen Ferguson
💍 1905/3808

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic

24 years
24 years

Hokitika
Hokitika

3 days
3 days

Church of England Hokitika

05/6319

November 1905

J. G. Hawkins, Church of England

No	32
Date of Notice	November 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hawthorn Hugh Adamson	Ellen Ferguson
	💍 1905/3808
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic
Age	24 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Church of England Hokitika
Folio	05/6319
Consent
Date of Certificate	November 1905
Officiating Minister	J. G. Hawkins, Church of England

11 November 1905

Paul Freebury
Edith Josephine Lowell

Paul Freebury
Ethel Josephine Dowell
💍 1905/3809

Bachelor
Spinster

Iron Moulder
Domestic

27 years
25 years

Hokitika
Hokitika

3 years
25 years

Church of England Hokitika

05/6320

11 November 1905

J. G. Hawkins, Church of England

No	33
Date of Notice	11 November 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Paul Freebury	Edith Josephine Lowell
BDM Match (89%)	Paul Freebury	Ethel Josephine Dowell
	💍 1905/3809
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Iron Moulder	Domestic
Age	27 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	3 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Hokitika
Folio	05/6320
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 November 1905
Officiating Minister	J. G. Hawkins, Church of England

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).