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 214

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 31 December 1906 Registrar Robt. N. Keeling

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

142

23 November 1906

Charles Davey
Bessie Carue

Charles Davey
Bessie Carne
💍 1906/6270

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm-Hand

21 years
18 years

Kairanga
Palmerston North

21 years
9 months

Registrar's Office, Palmerston North

06/6168

Richard Carue, father

23 November 1906

Robt. N. Keeling, Registrar, Palmerston North

No	142
Date of Notice	23 November 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Davey	Bessie Carue
BDM Match (96%)	Charles Davey	Bessie Carne
	💍 1906/6270
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm-Hand
Age	21 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Kairanga	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	21 years	9 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Palmerston North
Folio	06/6168
Consent	Richard Carue, father
Date of Certificate	23 November 1906
Officiating Minister	Robt. N. Keeling, Registrar, Palmerston North

143

3 December 1906

Harry Leslie Read
Olive Hilda Cowper

Harry Leslie Read
Olive Hilda Cowper
💍 1906/6232

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser

22 years
19 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

9 months
19 years

All Saints Church, Palmerston North

06/6154

William Henry Cowper, father

3 December 1906

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

No	143
Date of Notice	3 December 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Leslie Read	Olive Hilda Cowper
	💍 1906/6232
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser
Age	22 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	9 months	19 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Palmerston North
Folio	06/6154
Consent	William Henry Cowper, father
Date of Certificate	3 December 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. C. Harper, Anglican Minister, Palmerston North

144

5 December 1906

William Henry Fitchett
Grace Beatrice Johnson

William Henry Filchett
Grace Beatrice Johnson
💍 1906/6233

Widower
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Servant

38 years
27 years

Levin
Levin

3 days
3 days

All Saints Church, Palmerston North

06/6155

5 December 1906

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

No	144
Date of Notice	5 December 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Fitchett	Grace Beatrice Johnson
BDM Match (98%)	William Henry Filchett	Grace Beatrice Johnson
	💍 1906/6233
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Servant
Age	38 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Levin	Levin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Palmerston North
Folio	06/6155
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 December 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. C. Harper, Anglican Minister, Palmerston North

145

6 December 1906

Alexander Norman Torstonson
Ida Matilda Mattson

Alexander Norman Torstonson
Ida Matilda Mattson
💍 1906/6240

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

24 years
19 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

19 years
4 years

Broad St. Methodist Church, Palmerston North

06/6161

Frederick Mattson, father

6 December 1906

Rev. J. I. Lewis, Methodist Minister, Palmerston North

No	145
Date of Notice	6 December 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Norman Torstonson	Ida Matilda Mattson
	💍 1906/6240
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	24 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	19 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Broad St. Methodist Church, Palmerston North
Folio	06/6161
Consent	Frederick Mattson, father
Date of Certificate	6 December 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. I. Lewis, Methodist Minister, Palmerston North

146

6 December 1906

John Thomas Clark
Ellen Baird
formerly Palmer

John Thomas Clark
Ellen Baird
💍 1906/6238

Bachelor
Widow

Gardener
Domestic Servant

40 years
30 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

14 years
2 years

House of John Thomas Clark, Palmerston North

06/6159

6 December 1906

Capt. George Clark, Salvation Army Officer, Palmerston North

No	146
Date of Notice	6 December 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Clark	Ellen Baird formerly Palmer
	💍 1906/6238
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Gardener	Domestic Servant
Age	40 years	30 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	14 years	2 years
Marriage Place	House of John Thomas Clark, Palmerston North
Folio	06/6159
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 December 1906
Officiating Minister	Capt. George Clark, Salvation Army Officer, Palmerston North

147

7 December 1906

Walter Edward Beeto
Lizzie Gower

Walter Edward Beets
Lizzie Gower
💍 1906/6271

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

31 years
27 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
1 year

Registrar's Office, Palmerston North

06/6169

7 December 1906

Robt. N. Keeling, Registrar, Palmerston North

No	147
Date of Notice	7 December 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Edward Beeto	Lizzie Gower
BDM Match (97%)	Walter Edward Beets	Lizzie Gower
	💍 1906/6271
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	31 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Palmerston North
Folio	06/6169
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 December 1906
Officiating Minister	Robt. N. Keeling, Registrar, Palmerston North

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).