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 278

District of Hamilton Quarter ending 30 September 1906 Registrar James S. Bond

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

4 July 1906

Henry Colin Balneavis Shera
Eva Maud Biggs

Henry Colin Balneavis Shera
Eva Maud Biggs
💍 1906/3993

Bachelor
Spinster

Teller, in Bank
Home duties

30
25

Hamilton
Hamilton

3 years
over 10 years

St Peter's Anglican Church, Hamilton

06/3975

4 July 1906

Rev. R. C. W. Radcliffe

No	25
Date of Notice	4 July 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Colin Balneavis Shera	Eva Maud Biggs
	💍 1906/3993
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teller, in Bank	Home duties
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	3 years	over 10 years
Marriage Place	St Peter's Anglican Church, Hamilton
Folio	06/3975
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. C. W. Radcliffe

14 July 1906

Matthew Kirkwood
Myra Florence Batchelor

Matthew Kirkwood
Myra Florence Batchelor
💍 1906/3863

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

29
24

Ngaruawahia
Ngaruawahia

3 days
3 days

Residence of Mrs Fred Hill, Ngaruawahia

06/3966

14 July 1906

Rev. Edward Bishop

No	26
Date of Notice	14 July 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew Kirkwood	Myra Florence Batchelor
	💍 1906/3863
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Ngaruawahia	Ngaruawahia
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Fred Hill, Ngaruawahia
Folio	06/3966
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. Edward Bishop

16 July 1906

William James Richardson
Annie Elizabeth Matilda Field

William James Richardson
Annie Elizabeth Matilda Field
💍 1906/4966

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm labourer
Home duties

32
19

Tauwhare
Tauwhare

22 years
3 years

Public Hall, Tauwhare

06/4603

James Field, father

16 July 1906

Rev. William James Gow

No	27
Date of Notice	16 July 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Richardson	Annie Elizabeth Matilda Field
	💍 1906/4966
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm labourer	Home duties
Age	32	19
Dwelling Place	Tauwhare	Tauwhare
Length of Residence	22 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Public Hall, Tauwhare
Folio	06/4603
Consent	James Field, father
Date of Certificate	16 July 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. William James Gow

6 August 1906

Allan McDonald
Elizabeth Mary Parker (née Smith)

Allan McDonald
Elizabeth Mary Parker
💍 1906/3861

Bachelor
Widow

Livery stable keeper
Domestic

43
32

Hamilton
Hamilton

4 years
6 months

St Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Hamilton

06/3964

6 August 1906

Rev. James Ernest Adams

No	28
Date of Notice	6 August 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan McDonald	Elizabeth Mary Parker (née Smith)
BDM Match (81%)	Allan McDonald	Elizabeth Mary Parker
	💍 1906/3861
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Livery stable keeper	Domestic
Age	43	32
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	4 years	6 months
Marriage Place	St Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Hamilton
Folio	06/3964
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 August 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Ernest Adams

7 August 1906

William Parker
May Carpenter

William Parker
May Carpenter
💍 1906/3868

Widower
Spinster

Watchmaker
Domestic

25
26

Hamilton
Hamilton

6 weeks
4 days

St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Hamilton

06/3970

7 August 1906

Rev. Joseph Croke Darby

No	29
Date of Notice	7 August 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Parker	May Carpenter
	💍 1906/3868
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Watchmaker	Domestic
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	6 weeks	4 days
Marriage Place	St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Hamilton
Folio	06/3970
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 August 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. Joseph Croke Darby

13 August 1906

George McLeod
Alice Thyra McLeod

George McLeod
Alice Thyra McLeod
💍 1906/7156

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank manager
Telephone Cadette

30
28

Hamilton
Roslyn, Dunedin

5 months
28 years

Residence of Bride's Parents, Roslyn, Dunedin

06/1184

13 August 1906

Rev. William Hewitson B.A.

No	30
Date of Notice	13 August 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George McLeod	Alice Thyra McLeod
	💍 1906/7156
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank manager	Telephone Cadette
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Roslyn, Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 months	28 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Bride's Parents, Roslyn, Dunedin
Folio	06/1184
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 August 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Hewitson B.A.

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).