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 158

District of AUCKLAND Quarter ending 31 December 1906 Registrar R. H. 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

823

31 October 1906

Arthur George Radford
Zina Louisa Johnson

Arthur George Radford
Zina Louisa Johnson
💍 1906/5717

Widower
Spinster

Accountant

41
45

Auckland
Auckland

1 year
1 year

St. Matthews Church, Auckland

06/5579

31 October 1906

Rev. W. E. Gillam, Church of England

No	823
Date of Notice	31 October 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur George Radford	Zina Louisa Johnson
	💍 1906/5717
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	41	45
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Auckland
Folio	06/5579
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Gillam, Church of England

824

31 October 1906

Herbert Poole
Adelaide Isabel Theobald

Herbert Poole
Adelaide Isabel Theobald
💍 1906/4526

Bachelor
Spinster

Brass Moulder

28
17

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
4 years

Registrars Office, Auckland

06/5535

John Theobald, Legal Guardian

31 October 1906

R. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	824
Date of Notice	31 October 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Poole	Adelaide Isabel Theobald
	💍 1906/4526
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brass Moulder
Age	28	17
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Auckland
Folio	06/5535
Consent	John Theobald, Legal Guardian
Date of Certificate	31 October 1906
Officiating Minister	R. H. Lyons, Registrar

825

31 October 1906

Joseph Lithel McKeown
Bessie Leslie

Joseph Lithel McKeown
Bessie Leslie
💍 1906/5870

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler

23
23

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
3 days

House of Mr. John St. James, Newton Road

06/5733

31 October 1906

Rev. W. S. Potter, Primitive Methodist

No	825
Date of Notice	31 October 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Lithel McKeown	Bessie Leslie
	💍 1906/5870
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	House of Mr. John St. James, Newton Road
Folio	06/5733
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Potter, Primitive Methodist

826

1 November 1906

Harold Alfred Saxon
Ellen Louisa Webb

Harold Alfred Saxon
Ellen Louisa Webb
💍 1906/4749

Bachelor
Spinster

Potter

25
21

Auckland
Auckland

25 years
21 years

Congregational Church, Beresford Street

06/5727

1 November 1906

Rev. J. Wilkins, Congregational Independent

No	826
Date of Notice	1 November 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Alfred Saxon	Ellen Louisa Webb
	💍 1906/4749
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Potter
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	25 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Beresford Street
Folio	06/5727
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 November 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Wilkins, Congregational Independent

827

2 November 1906

James O'Meara
Emily Jane Coldicutt

James O'Meara
Emily Jane Coldicutt
💍 1906/5849

Bachelor
Spinster

Timber Mill Employee

34
24

Auckland
Auckland

34 years
34 years

Sacred Heart Church, Ponsonby

06/5690

2 November 1906

Rev. J. Molloy, Roman Catholic

No	827
Date of Notice	2 November 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James O'Meara	Emily Jane Coldicutt
	💍 1906/5849
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Timber Mill Employee
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	34 years	34 years
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Church, Ponsonby
Folio	06/5690
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 November 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Molloy, Roman Catholic

828

2 November 1906

Arthur Bidgood Merson
Laura Violet Ridling

Arthur Bidgood Merson
Laura Violet Ridling
💍 1906/5803

Bachelor
Spinster

Coach Builder

23
24

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
24 years

St. James Church, Auckland

06/5667

2 November 1906

Rev. R. L. Walker, Presbyterian

No	828
Date of Notice	2 November 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Bidgood Merson	Laura Violet Ridling
	💍 1906/5803
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coach Builder
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. James Church, Auckland
Folio	06/5667
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 November 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. L. Walker, Presbyterian

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).