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 720

District of KUMARA Quarter ending 30 September 1905 Registrar Arthur Frederick Beil

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

5 July 1905

Thomas Leitch
Rose Neave

Thomas Leitch
Rose Neame
💍 1905/2129

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

26 years
18 years

Christchurch Road near Kumara (late Blackball)
Christchurch Road near Kumara (late Blackball)

3 days
3 days

Residence of Mr. Frank Neave, at Christchurch Road near Kumara.

05/4557

Mr. Frank Neave (Father.)

5 July 1905

Rev. Henry Woulapu Smyth M.A.

No	8
Date of Notice	5 July 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Leitch	Rose Neave
BDM Match (95%)	Thomas Leitch	Rose Neame
	💍 1905/2129
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	26 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Christchurch Road near Kumara (late Blackball)	Christchurch Road near Kumara (late Blackball)
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Frank Neave, at Christchurch Road near Kumara.
Folio	05/4557
Consent	Mr. Frank Neave (Father.)
Date of Certificate	5 July 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. Henry Woulapu Smyth M.A.

12 July 1905

John Atkinson
Mary Whelan

John Atkinson
Mary Whelan
💍 1905/2721

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

29 years
18 years

Kumara (late Hat near Reefton.)
Kumara

3 days
15 years

Roman Catholic Chapel, Kumara

05/5785

Michael Whelan (Father.)

12 July 1905

Rev. Father D. J. O'Hallahan

No	9
Date of Notice	12 July 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Atkinson	Mary Whelan
	💍 1905/2721
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	29 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Kumara (late Hat near Reefton.)	Kumara
Length of Residence	3 days	15 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel, Kumara
Folio	05/5785
Consent	Michael Whelan (Father.)
Date of Certificate	12 July 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father D. J. O'Hallahan

19 July 1905

Richard Thomas Candy Roberts
Mary Elizabeth Candy

Richard Thomas Candy Roberts
Mary Elizabeth Candy
💍 1905/2114

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Dressmaker

24 years
23 years

present - Kumara
Kumara

3 days
23 years

Residence of Mr. Richard Roberts at Kumara.

05/4555

19 July 1905

Rev. Thomas W. Veullie.

No	10
Date of Notice	19 July 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Thomas Candy Roberts	Mary Elizabeth Candy
	💍 1905/2114
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Dressmaker
Age	24 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	present - Kumara	Kumara
Length of Residence	3 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Richard Roberts at Kumara.
Folio	05/4555
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas W. Veullie.

4 August 1905

Edmund Charles Kean
Caroline Elizabeth Burger

Edmund Charles Kean
Caroline Elizabeth Burger
💍 1905/2722

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

31 years
29 years

Kumara (late Livingstone Terrace.)
Kumara

3 weeks
29 years

Roman Catholic Chapel, Kumara

05/5786

4 August 1905

Rev. Father D. J. O'Hallahan.

No	11
Date of Notice	4 August 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmund Charles Kean	Caroline Elizabeth Burger
	💍 1905/2722
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	31 years	29 years
Dwelling Place	Kumara (late Livingstone Terrace.)	Kumara
Length of Residence	3 weeks	29 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel, Kumara
Folio	05/5786
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 August 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father D. J. O'Hallahan.

11 August 1905

Donald Steel
Emily Clark

Donald Steel
Emily Clark
💍 1905/2130

Kenneth Reginald Macdonald
Emily Clark
💍 1905/1455

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

21 years
21 years

Kumara (late Blackball)
Kumara (late Blackball)

3 days
3 days

at the house of Mr. Hugh Steel, Dillmanstown.

05/4558

11 August 1905

Rev. Henry Woulapu Smyth M.A.

No	12
Date of Notice	11 August 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Steel	Emily Clark
	💍 1905/2130
BDM Match (62%)	Kenneth Reginald Macdonald	Emily Clark
	💍 1905/1455
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	21 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Kumara (late Blackball)	Kumara (late Blackball)
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	at the house of Mr. Hugh Steel, Dillmanstown.
Folio	05/4558
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 August 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. Henry Woulapu Smyth M.A.

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).