Intentions to Marry, 1906 Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840431, 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 117

District of Levin Quarter ending 30 September 1906 Registrar William Charles Nation

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

193

2 July 1906

John O'Connell
Annie Plummer

John O'Connell
Annie Plummer
💍 1906/4151

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

26
19

Kereru
Levin

Three years
Two years

Registrar's Office Levin

06/4261

Henry Plummer Father

2 July 1906

W. C. Nation Registrar

No	193
Date of Notice	2 July 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John O'Connell	Annie Plummer
	💍 1906/4151
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Kereru	Levin
Length of Residence	Three years	Two years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Levin
Folio	06/4261
Consent	Henry Plummer Father
Date of Certificate	2 July 1906
Officiating Minister	W. C. Nation Registrar

194

25 August 1906

Henry John Bunckenberg
Ethel Maude Houskin

Henry John Bunckenburg
Ethel Maud Hawkins
💍 1906/4150

Bachelor
Spinster

House Carpenter
Domestic duties

32
23

Levin
Levin

Three days
Four years

Residence of Rev J. Wrigley Levin

06/4260

25 August 1906

Rev Jas Wrigley

No	194
Date of Notice	25 August 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry John Bunckenberg	Ethel Maude Houskin
BDM Match (85%)	Henry John Bunckenburg	Ethel Maud Hawkins
	💍 1906/4150
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	House Carpenter	Domestic duties
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Levin	Levin
Length of Residence	Three days	Four years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev J. Wrigley Levin
Folio	06/4260
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 August 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev Jas Wrigley

195

26 August 1906

Robert Gerald Makin
Clara Bayley Gray

Robert Gerald Makin
Clara Bailey Gray
💍 1906/4152

Bachelor
Divorced

Clerk
Domestic duties

33
31

Horowhenua
Horowhenua

Three months
Three weeks

Registrar's Office Levin

06/4262

26 August 1906

W. C. Nation Registrar

No	195
Date of Notice	26 August 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Gerald Makin	Clara Bayley Gray
BDM Match (97%)	Robert Gerald Makin	Clara Bailey Gray
	💍 1906/4152
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced
Profession	Clerk	Domestic duties
Age	33	31
Dwelling Place	Horowhenua	Horowhenua
Length of Residence	Three months	Three weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Levin
Folio	06/4262
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 August 1906
Officiating Minister	W. C. Nation Registrar

196

11 September 1906

Frederick Kilkolly
Florence Constance Moore

Frederick Kilkolly
Florence Constance Moore
💍 1906/4155

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

22
21

Levin
Lvin

Three days
One month

Registrar's Office Levin

06/4264

11 September 1906

W. C. Nation Registrar

No	196
Date of Notice	11 September 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Kilkolly	Florence Constance Moore
	💍 1906/4155
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Levin	Lvin
Length of Residence	Three days	One month
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Levin
Folio	06/4264
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 September 1906
Officiating Minister	W. C. Nation Registrar

197

12 September 1906

Robert Bruce Anderson
Jessie Rich

Robert Bruce Anderson
Jessie Rich
💍 1906/4153

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

20
18

Levin
Heatherlea

Two years
Two years

Registrar's Office Levin

06/4263

Rachel Jane Rich Mother

12 September 1906

W. C. Nation Registrar

No	197
Date of Notice	12 September 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Bruce Anderson	Jessie Rich
	💍 1906/4153
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	20	18
Dwelling Place	Levin	Heatherlea
Length of Residence	Two years	Two years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Levin
Folio	06/4263
Consent	Rachel Jane Rich Mother
Date of Certificate	12 September 1906
Officiating Minister	W. C. Nation Registrar

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).