Intentions to Marry, 1906 Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840430, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1906 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1906a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1906b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1906c).

Page 047

District of AUCKLAND Quarter ending 30 June 1906 Registrar Edmund Humphrey Lyons

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

231

4 April 1906

Harold James Palin Coop
Grace Harvey

Harold James Palin Coop
Grace Harvey
💍 1906/187

Bachelor
Spinster

Milkman

21
20

Auckland
Auckland

8 years
20 years

Registrar's Office Auckland

06/1570

Mary Eleanor Clark Mother

4 April 1906

E. H. Lyons. Registrar.

No	231
Date of Notice	4 April 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold James Palin Coop	Grace Harvey
	💍 1906/187
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Milkman
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	8 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Auckland
Folio	06/1570
Consent	Mary Eleanor Clark Mother
Date of Certificate	4 April 1906
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons. Registrar.

232

6 April 1906

Arthur Charles Tonkin
Olive May Blomfield

Arthur Charles Tonkin
Olive May Blomfield
💍 1906/406

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

34
26

Auckland
Auckland

8 years
26 years

Methodist Church Ponsonby

06/1733

6 April 1906

Rev. J. A. Luxford Methodist

No	232
Date of Notice	6 April 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Charles Tonkin	Olive May Blomfield
	💍 1906/406
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	34	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	8 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Ponsonby
Folio	06/1733
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Luxford Methodist

233

6 April 1906

Joseph Edward Wilson Somervill
Hilda Winifred Welborne Mardon

Joseph Edward Wilson Somerville
Hilda Winifred Welborne Mardon
💍 1906/426

Bachelor
Spinster

Surgeon

35
24

Auckland
Auckland

35 years
3 years

House of Mr G. A. Buttle Beckham Place Grafton Road

06/1753

6 April 1906

Rev. J. H. Simmonds Methodist

No	233
Date of Notice	6 April 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Edward Wilson Somervill	Hilda Winifred Welborne Mardon
BDM Match (98%)	Joseph Edward Wilson Somerville	Hilda Winifred Welborne Mardon
	💍 1906/426
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surgeon
Age	35	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	35 years	3 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr G. A. Buttle Beckham Place Grafton Road
Folio	06/1753
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Simmonds Methodist

234

6 April 1906

Franciscus Cornelius Kroon
Zilda Margaret Waring O'Donnell

Franciscus Cornelius Kroon
Zilda Margaret Waring O'Donnell
💍 1906/210

Bachelor
Divorcee

Labourer

36
34

Auckland
Auckland

8 years
34 years

Registrar's Office Auckland

06/1509

6 April 1906

E. H. Lyons. Registrar.

No	234
Date of Notice	6 April 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Franciscus Cornelius Kroon	Zilda Margaret Waring O'Donnell
	💍 1906/210
Condition	Bachelor	Divorcee
Profession	Labourer
Age	36	34
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	8 years	34 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Auckland
Folio	06/1509
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1906
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons. Registrar.

235

7 April 1906

Alexander Bell
Jean Catherine Ritchie

Alexander Bell
Jean Catherine Ritchie
💍 1906/342

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger

30
24

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
3 years

House of Mr. J. F. Abbott Mt. Eden

06/1668

7 April 1906

Rev. W. G. Dixon Presbyterian

No	235
Date of Notice	7 April 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Bell	Jean Catherine Ritchie
	💍 1906/342
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. J. F. Abbott Mt. Eden
Folio	06/1668
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Dixon Presbyterian

236

7 April 1906

Frederick Hesketh
Louisa Winifred Macklow

Frederick Hesketh
Louisa Winifred Macklow
💍 1906/2873

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant

27
19

Auckland
Auckland

27 yrs
15 years

House of father of Bride Epsom

06/2641

Mary Jane Macklow Mother

7 April 1906

Rev. W. Beatty Church of England

No	236
Date of Notice	7 April 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Hesketh	Louisa Winifred Macklow
	💍 1906/2873
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	27 yrs	15 years
Marriage Place	House of father of Bride Epsom
Folio	06/2641
Consent	Mary Jane Macklow Mother
Date of Certificate	7 April 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Beatty Church of England

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).