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 209

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 31 December 1905

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

131

22 December 1905

Walter Fitzgerald
Ethel Maude Bryant

Walter Fitzgerald Field
Ethel Maude Bryant
💍 1905/3342

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

36
23

Leth Herbert East
Tiritea

2 years
1 week

All Saints Church, Palmerston North

05/5841

22 December 1905

Rev. C. C. Harper, Anglican Minister, Palmerston North

No	131
Date of Notice	22 December 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Fitzgerald	Ethel Maude Bryant
BDM Match (87%)	Walter Fitzgerald Field	Ethel Maude Bryant
	💍 1905/3342
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	36	23
Dwelling Place	Leth Herbert East	Tiritea
Length of Residence	2 years	1 week
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Palmerston North
Folio	05/5841
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. C. Harper, Anglican Minister, Palmerston North

132

22 December 1905

Arthur John Shailer
Alice Maude Somers

Arthur John Shailer
Alice Maud Somers
💍 1905/3340

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener

27
22

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

20 years
1 year

All Saints Church, Palmerston North

05/5840

22 December 1905

Rev. C. C. Harper, Anglican Minister, Palmerston North

No	132
Date of Notice	22 December 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur John Shailer	Alice Maude Somers
BDM Match (97%)	Arthur John Shailer	Alice Maud Somers
	💍 1905/3340
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	20 years	1 year
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Palmerston North
Folio	05/5840
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. C. Harper, Anglican Minister, Palmerston North

133

22 December 1905

Joseph Francis Rosanoski
Jessie Williams

Joseph Francis Rosanowski
Jessie Williams
💍 1905/4656

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Domestic Servant

22
19

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

22 years
3 years

St. Patrick's Church, Palmerston North

05/7227

Elizabeth Williams, mother

22 December 1905

Rev. P. W. Leymons, Catholic Priest, Palmerston North

No	133
Date of Notice	22 December 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Francis Rosanoski	Jessie Williams
BDM Match (98%)	Joseph Francis Rosanowski	Jessie Williams
	💍 1905/4656
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Domestic Servant
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	22 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Palmerston North
Folio	05/7227
Consent	Elizabeth Williams, mother
Date of Certificate	22 December 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. W. Leymons, Catholic Priest, Palmerston North

134

23 December 1905

Albert Mark Blake
Gertrude Livia Smith

Albert Mark Blake
Gertrude Lina Smith
💍 1905/3355

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Embroideress

22
20

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

22 years
20 years

At the house of Richard Smith, Palmerston North

05/5855

Richard Smith, father

23 December 1905

Rev. J. J. Mathen, Methodist Minister, Palmerston North

No	134
Date of Notice	23 December 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Mark Blake	Gertrude Livia Smith
BDM Match (95%)	Albert Mark Blake	Gertrude Lina Smith
	💍 1905/3355
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Embroideress
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	22 years	20 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Richard Smith, Palmerston North
Folio	05/5855
Consent	Richard Smith, father
Date of Certificate	23 December 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Mathen, Methodist Minister, Palmerston North

135

27 December 1905

Paul Adolf Werner
Kate Eveline Trash

Paul Adolf Werner
Kate Evelyne Trask
💍 1906/1932

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener

41
28

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
6 years

St. Peter's Church, Palmerston North

06/525

27 December 1905

Rev. C. C. Harper, Anglican Minister, Palmerston North

No	135
Date of Notice	27 December 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Paul Adolf Werner	Kate Eveline Trash
BDM Match (94%)	Paul Adolf Werner	Kate Evelyne Trask
	💍 1906/1932
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener
Age	41	28
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Palmerston North
Folio	06/525
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 December 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. C. Harper, Anglican Minister, Palmerston North

136

27 December 1905

William Neville Stock
Emily Beck

William Neville Stock
Emily Beck
💍 1906/1933

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinet Maker
Dressmaker

21
27

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
3 days

All Saints Church, Palmerston North

06/526

27 December 1905

Rev. C. C. Harper, Anglican Minister, Palmerston North

No	136
Date of Notice	27 December 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Neville Stock	Emily Beck
	💍 1906/1933
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinet Maker	Dressmaker
Age	21	27
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Palmerston North
Folio	06/526
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 December 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. C. Harper, Anglican Minister, Palmerston North

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).