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 360

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1906 Registrar Gilbert Graham

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

161

6 March 1906

William John Eloy
Eleanor Louise Jonmans

William John Elvy
Eleanor Louise Youmans
💍 1906/2141

Bachelor
Spinster

Surveyors Assistant

31
32

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
Life

Residence of Mr. A. Antson, Wallace Street, Wellington

06/787

6 March 1906

Rev. G. Bond

No	161
Date of Notice	6 March 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Eloy	Eleanor Louise Jonmans
BDM Match (93%)	William John Elvy	Eleanor Louise Youmans
	💍 1906/2141
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surveyors Assistant
Age	31	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. A. Antson, Wallace Street, Wellington
Folio	06/787
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Bond

162

6 March 1906

Thomas Thistleton
Bertha Eva Fuller

Thomas Thistleton Mason
Bertha Eva Fuller
💍 1906/3107

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

24
19

Wellington
Wellington

23 years
16 years

Residence of Mr. Fuller, 3 Broomhedge Street, Wellington

06/12583

Emma Fuller, Mother

6 March 1906

Rev. J. Dawson

No	162
Date of Notice	6 March 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Thistleton	Bertha Eva Fuller
BDM Match (87%)	Thomas Thistleton Mason	Bertha Eva Fuller
	💍 1906/3107
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	23 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Fuller, 3 Broomhedge Street, Wellington
Folio	06/12583
Consent	Emma Fuller, Mother
Date of Certificate	6 March 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Dawson

163

6 March 1906

Hans Rudolph Jorgensen
Ethel May Stevens

Hans Rudolph Jorgensen
Ethel May Stevens
💍 1906/2142

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine Officer

33
21

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
Life

Trinity Wesleyan Church, Wellington South

06/788

6 March 1906

Rev. G. Bond

No	163
Date of Notice	6 March 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hans Rudolph Jorgensen	Ethel May Stevens
	💍 1906/2142
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine Officer
Age	33	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	Life
Marriage Place	Trinity Wesleyan Church, Wellington South
Folio	06/788
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Bond

164

6 March 1906

Charles Sievwright
Eliza Coutts

Charles Sievwright
Eliza Coutts
💍 1906/2313

Bachelor
Spinster

Plasterer

23
21

Wellington
Wellington

9 months
7 days

St. James Church, Wellington South

06/735

6 March 1906

Rev. W. Shiner

No	164
Date of Notice	6 March 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Sievwright	Eliza Coutts
	💍 1906/2313
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plasterer
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 months	7 days
Marriage Place	St. James Church, Wellington South
Folio	06/735
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shiner

165

7 March 1906

James Alexander Robertson
Jessie Paton Mitchell

James Alexander Robertson
Jessie Paton Mitchell
💍 1906/2114

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

39
37

Wellington
Wellington

Life
27 years

Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace, Wellington

06/709

7 March 1906

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	165
Date of Notice	7 March 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Alexander Robertson	Jessie Paton Mitchell
	💍 1906/2114
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	39	37
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	27 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace, Wellington
Folio	06/709
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 March 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

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).