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 329

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1905 Registrar G. Stoddart, Deputy

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

28 January 1905

William Joseph Aursen
Annie Caldwell

William Joseph Hurren
Annie Caldwell
💍 1905/4856

Bachelor
Spinster

Saw Mill Hand

28
28

Pahautanui
Pahautanui

4 weeks
4 months

Residence of W. Mears, Austin Street, Wellington

05/706

28 January 1905

Rev J. Gibb D.D.

No	66
Date of Notice	28 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Joseph Aursen	Annie Caldwell
BDM Match (95%)	William Joseph Hurren	Annie Caldwell
	💍 1905/4856
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saw Mill Hand
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Pahautanui	Pahautanui
Length of Residence	4 weeks	4 months
Marriage Place	Residence of W. Mears, Austin Street, Wellington
Folio	05/706
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Gibb D.D.

28 January 1905

John William Barr
Francis Hilda Peterson

John William Barr
Frances Hilda Peterson
💍 1905/4916

Bachelor
Spinster

Journalist

29
26

Wellington
Wellington

18 years
5 years

Residence of M. J. Barr, Brougham Drive, Wellington

05/736

28 January 1905

Rev J. K. Elliott

No	67
Date of Notice	28 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Barr	Francis Hilda Peterson
BDM Match (98%)	John William Barr	Frances Hilda Peterson
	💍 1905/4916
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Journalist
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of M. J. Barr, Brougham Drive, Wellington
Folio	05/736
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev J. K. Elliott

30 January 1905

Joseph David Simmon Mollier
Cecilia Margaret McKay

Joseph David Simmons Mollier
Cecelia Margaret McKay
💍 1905/6914

Bachelor
Spinster

Tobacconist

26
27

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
6 months

St. Mary of the Angels Church, Boulcott Street, Wellington

05/7434

30 January 1905

Rev J. McNamara

No	68
Date of Notice	30 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph David Simmon Mollier	Cecilia Margaret McKay
BDM Match (96%)	Joseph David Simmons Mollier	Cecelia Margaret McKay
	💍 1905/6914
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tobacconist
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	6 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary of the Angels Church, Boulcott Street, Wellington
Folio	05/7434
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev J. McNamara

30 January 1905

John James Firth
Honorah McCarthy

John James Firth
Hanorah McCarthy
💍 1905/6010

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer

38
49

Wellington
Wellington

20 years
38 years

St. Anne's Church, Newtown, Wellington

05/855

30 January 1905

Rev J. Ainsworth

No	69
Date of Notice	30 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John James Firth	Honorah McCarthy
BDM Match (97%)	John James Firth	Hanorah McCarthy
	💍 1905/6010
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer
Age	38	49
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	38 years
Marriage Place	St. Anne's Church, Newtown, Wellington
Folio	05/855
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Ainsworth

31 January 1905

Alfred Copping
Delia Ferdinand

Alfred Copping
Delia Ferdinand
💍 1905/5927

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotel Porter

32
23

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
1.5 years

St. Joseph's Church, Bmehle Street, Wellington

05/779

31 January 1905

Rev T. O'Shea

No	70
Date of Notice	31 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Copping	Delia Ferdinand
	💍 1905/5927
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotel Porter
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	1.5 years
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Church, Bmehle Street, Wellington
Folio	05/779
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev T. O'Shea

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).