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 286

District of Wanganui Quarter ending 30 June 1906 Registrar Charles E. Hylion

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

3 April 1906

William McCormick
Isabel Mabel Danahay

William McCormick
Isabel Mabel Danahay
💍 1906/999

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

20
20

Wanganui
Wanganui

13 years
2 years

Residence of Mrs McCormick, Halswell Street, Wanganui

06/2329

William McCormick Father, Robert Danahay Father

3 April 1906

E. Drake, Primitive Methodist

No	34
Date of Notice	3 April 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McCormick	Isabel Mabel Danahay
	💍 1906/999
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	13 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs McCormick, Halswell Street, Wanganui
Folio	06/2329
Consent	William McCormick Father, Robert Danahay Father
Date of Certificate	3 April 1906
Officiating Minister	E. Drake, Primitive Methodist

4 April 1906

Frederick William Low
Eva May Clarke

Frederick William Low
Eva May Clarke
💍 1906/1037

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser

22
23

Wanganui
Wanganui

3 years
23 years

Residence of Mrs C. Smith, 13 Church Place, Wanganui

06/2365

4 April 1906

A. Dewdney, Baptist

No	35
Date of Notice	4 April 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Low	Eva May Clarke
	💍 1906/1037
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	3 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs C. Smith, 13 Church Place, Wanganui
Folio	06/2365
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1906
Officiating Minister	A. Dewdney, Baptist

6 April 1906

Edward Himley Barrow
Mary Alice Richards

Edward Himley Barrow
Mary Alice Richards
💍 1906/1010

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Dressmaker

29
37

Wanganui
Wanganui

24 days
37 years

St John's Church of England

06/2356

6 April 1906

J. B. Maclean, Church of England

No	36
Date of Notice	6 April 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Himley Barrow	Mary Alice Richards
	💍 1906/1010
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Dressmaker
Age	29	37
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	24 days	37 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church of England
Folio	06/2356
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1906
Officiating Minister	J. B. Maclean, Church of England

6 April 1906

Joseph Salt
Ivy May Philpot

Joseph Salt
Ivy May Philpot
💍 1906/1003

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Servant

24
22

Wanganui
Wanganui

3 months
8 years

Church of England, Putiki

06/2349

6 April 1906

H. Watson, Church of England

No	37
Date of Notice	6 April 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Salt	Ivy May Philpot
	💍 1906/1003
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Servant
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	3 months	8 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Putiki
Folio	06/2349
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1906
Officiating Minister	H. Watson, Church of England

7 April 1906

Evan John Evans
Ada Nora Spooner

Evan John Evans
Ada Nora Spooner
💍 1906/1024

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer
Tailoress

32
21

Wanganui
Wanganui

4 years
10 years

Residence of Mr T. Spooner, No 3 Line, Wanganui

06/2345

7 April 1906

R. M. Ryburn, Presbyterian

No	38
Date of Notice	7 April 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Evan John Evans	Ada Nora Spooner
	💍 1906/1024
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer	Tailoress
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	4 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr T. Spooner, No 3 Line, Wanganui
Folio	06/2345
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1906
Officiating Minister	R. M. Ryburn, 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).