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 351

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1906 Registrar H. G. Hodgkins

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

121

16 February 1906

Reginald John Hourigan
Eva Hathaway

Reginald John Hourigan
Eva Hathaway
💍 1906/2082

Bachelor
Spinster

Barman

24
22

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
6 days

St. Peter's Church, Willis Street, Wellington

06/676

16 February 1906

Rev. S. O. Nandover

No	121
Date of Notice	16 February 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald John Hourigan	Eva Hathaway
	💍 1906/2082
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barman
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	6 days
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	06/676
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. O. Nandover

122

16 February 1906

Andrew Nall Turnbull
Annie Brown Widow

Andrew Hall Turnbull
Annie Brown
💍 1906/2009

Bachelor
Widow

Settler

41
47

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
1 week

Registrar's Office, Wellington

06/635

16 February 1906

G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

No	122
Date of Notice	16 February 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Nall Turnbull	Annie Brown Widow
BDM Match (80%)	Andrew Hall Turnbull	Annie Brown
	💍 1906/2009
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Settler
Age	41	47
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	1 week
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	06/635
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1906
Officiating Minister	G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

123

17 February 1906

James Turner
May Lawton

James Tanner
May Lawton
💍 1906/2133

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmoulder

23
21

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
Life

Residence of Mrs. Lawton, Tinakori Road, Wellington

06/802

17 February 1906

Rev. I. I. North

No	123
Date of Notice	17 February 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Turner	May Lawton
BDM Match (92%)	James Tanner	May Lawton
	💍 1906/2133
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmoulder
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Lawton, Tinakori Road, Wellington
Folio	06/802
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. I. North

124

17 February 1906

Wong Moy
Lee On

Wong Moy
Lee On
💍 1906/1944

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

36
18

Wellington
Wellington

21 years
3 days

Residence of Rev. I. I. North, Pirie Street, Wellington

06/806

Jefferson, resident with authority to consent

17 February 1906

Rev. I. I. North

No	124
Date of Notice	17 February 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wong Moy	Lee On
	💍 1906/1944
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	36	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	21 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. I. I. North, Pirie Street, Wellington
Folio	06/806
Consent	Jefferson, resident with authority to consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. I. North

125

19 February 1906

David Percival Jones
Ethel Simpson

David Percival Jones
Ethel Simpson
💍 1906/2152

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

21
20

Petone
Petone

3 months
4 months

Roman Catholic Church, Petone

06/772

Hannah Simpson, Mother

19 February 1906

Rev. F. G. Maples

No	125
Date of Notice	19 February 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Percival Jones	Ethel Simpson
	💍 1906/2152
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	3 months	4 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Petone
Folio	06/772
Consent	Hannah Simpson, Mother
Date of Certificate	19 February 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. G. Maples

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).