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 337

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1905 Registrar R.W.S.M. Stodgell

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

106

13 February 1905

William Arrowsmith
Lily Pamley

William Arrowsmith
Lily Pamley Macauley
💍 1905/4907

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
19

Petone
Wellington

12 years
Life

Residence of M. Macanley, 7 Leeds Street, Wellington

05/719

Thomas Henry Macanley, Father

13 February 1905

Rev W. Shirer

No	106
Date of Notice	13 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Arrowsmith	Lily Pamley
BDM Match (78%)	William Arrowsmith	Lily Pamley Macauley
	💍 1905/4907
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Petone	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 years	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of M. Macanley, 7 Leeds Street, Wellington
Folio	05/719
Consent	Thomas Henry Macanley, Father
Date of Certificate	13 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev W. Shirer

107

13 February 1905

William Henry Smith
Annie Elizabeth Norman

William Henry Smith
Annie Elizabeth Norman
💍 1905/5930

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

21
20

Kaniwara
Wellington

10 years
20 years

St Mary of the Angels Church, Wellington

05/783

Sarah Ann Norman, Mother

13 February 1905

Rev J. McNamara

No	107
Date of Notice	13 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Smith	Annie Elizabeth Norman
	💍 1905/5930
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Kaniwara	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St Mary of the Angels Church, Wellington
Folio	05/783
Consent	Sarah Ann Norman, Mother
Date of Certificate	13 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev J. McNamara

108

13 February 1905

William Taylor
Dorothy Alfleda

William Taylor
Dorothy Alfeld
💍 1905/4873

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

25
25

Wellington
Wellington

6 years
5 years

St Marks Church, Sussex Square, Wellington

05/699

13 February 1905

Rev R. Coffey

No	108
Date of Notice	13 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Taylor	Dorothy Alfleda
BDM Match (90%)	William Taylor	Dorothy Alfeld
	💍 1905/4873
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St Marks Church, Sussex Square, Wellington
Folio	05/699
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev R. Coffey

109

14 February 1905

Edward Daniel Hammond
Mary Ann Williamson

Edward Daniel Hammond
Mary Ann Williamson
💍 1905/5903

Bachelor
Spinster

Livery Stable Keeper

31
32

Wellington
Wellington

5 days
6 years

St Johns Manse, Woolcombe Street, Wellington

05/754

14 February 1905

Rev J. Gibb D.D.

No	109
Date of Notice	14 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Daniel Hammond	Mary Ann Williamson
	💍 1905/5903
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Livery Stable Keeper
Age	31	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 days	6 years
Marriage Place	St Johns Manse, Woolcombe Street, Wellington
Folio	05/754
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Gibb D.D.

110

14 February 1905

Theodore Bertram Tenniss
Mary Ellen Vernon

Theodore Bertram Furniss
Mary Ellen Vernon
💍 1905/5955

Bachelor
Spinster

Condiment Manufacturer

25
21

Wellington
Wellington

Life
Life

Trinity Wesleyan Church, Wellington South

05/810

Rev G. Bond

No	110
Date of Notice	14 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Theodore Bertram Tenniss	Mary Ellen Vernon
BDM Match (94%)	Theodore Bertram Furniss	Mary Ellen Vernon
	💍 1905/5955
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Condiment Manufacturer
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Trinity Wesleyan Church, Wellington South
Folio	05/810
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev G. Bond

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).