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 335

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1905 Registrar G. 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

8 February 1905

Ernest Arnold Verron
Ethel Maud Thwaites

Ernest Arnold Herron
Ethel Maud Thwaites
💍 1905/5949

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

23
22

Wellington
Wellington

16 years
Life

Wesleyan Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington

05/796

8 February 1905

Rev. B. W. Faireclough

No	96
Date of Notice	8 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Arnold Verron	Ethel Maud Thwaites
BDM Match (98%)	Ernest Arnold Herron	Ethel Maud Thwaites
	💍 1905/5949
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	16 years	Life
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington
Folio	05/796
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. W. Faireclough

9 February 1905

Thomas Graham
Ellen Francis

Thomas Graham
Ellen Francis
💍 1905/132

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

29
27

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
3 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

05/644

9 February 1905

G. Z. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

No	97
Date of Notice	9 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Graham	Ellen Francis
	💍 1905/132
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	05/644
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1905
Officiating Minister	G. Z. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

9 February 1905

Ernst Emil Hendriksen
Ellen Mary Lund

Ernst Emil Hendrickson
Ellen Mary Lund
💍 1905/4869

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner

35
28

Brooklyn
Wellington

30 years
Life

St. James's Church, Wellington South

05/718

9 February 1905

Rev. W. Fraser

No	98
Date of Notice	9 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernst Emil Hendriksen	Ellen Mary Lund
BDM Match (95%)	Ernst Emil Hendrickson	Ellen Mary Lund
	💍 1905/4869
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner
Age	35	28
Dwelling Place	Brooklyn	Wellington
Length of Residence	30 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. James's Church, Wellington South
Folio	05/718
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Fraser

11 February 1905

Jackson Edward Bangdges
Elizabeth Moorhead

Jackson Edward Brydges
Elizabeth Moorhead
💍 1905/6507

Widower
Spinster

Merchant

43
29

Wellington
South Bridge

2 years
29 years

Residence of Mr. Moorhead

05/1591

11 February 1905

Rev. A. A. S. Hamilton

No	99
Date of Notice	11 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jackson Edward Bangdges	Elizabeth Moorhead
BDM Match (94%)	Jackson Edward Brydges	Elizabeth Moorhead
	💍 1905/6507
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Merchant
Age	43	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	South Bridge
Length of Residence	2 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Moorhead
Folio	05/1591
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. A. S. Hamilton

100

11 February 1905

Niel Rasmussen
Mary Elizabeth Eddon

Niel Rassmussen
Mary Elizabeth Eddon
💍 1905/4901

Widower
Widow

Labourer

56
54

Wellington
Wellington

23 years
10 years

Residence of Mr. Eddon, 130 Cuba Street, Wellington

05/833

11 February 1905

Staff Captain McLeod

No	100
Date of Notice	11 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Niel Rasmussen	Mary Elizabeth Eddon
BDM Match (97%)	Niel Rassmussen	Mary Elizabeth Eddon
	💍 1905/4901
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Labourer
Age	56	54
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	23 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Eddon, 130 Cuba Street, Wellington
Folio	05/833
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Staff Captain McLeod

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).