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 503

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1906 Registrar Gilbert Graham Hodghins

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

826

10 November 1906

Frederick Augustus Clifford
Jane Clark Lauchlan

Frederick Augustus Clifford
Jane Clark Lauchlan
💍 1906/6482

Widower
Spinster

Storekeeper

45
36

Upper Hutt
Maranui

18 years
4 months

Residence of Mr. A. Lauchlan

06/6455

10 November 1906

Rev. W. J. Williams

No	826
Date of Notice	10 November 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Augustus Clifford	Jane Clark Lauchlan
	💍 1906/6482
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	45	36
Dwelling Place	Upper Hutt	Maranui
Length of Residence	18 years	4 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. A. Lauchlan
Folio	06/6455
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 November 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Williams

827

10 November 1906

George Henry Welsby
Ruby Mabel Will

George Henry McIvor
Ruby Mabel Mill
💍 1906/6462

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

26
23

Wellington
Wellington

12 years
Life

Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace, Wellington

06/6411

10 November 1906

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	827
Date of Notice	10 November 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Welsby	Ruby Mabel Will
BDM Match (81%)	George Henry McIvor	Ruby Mabel Mill
	💍 1906/6462
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 years	Life
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace, Wellington
Folio	06/6411
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 November 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

828

10 November 1906

Charles William Watts
Minnie Rose Wingate

Charles William Watts
Minnie Rosa Wingate
💍 1906/6369

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer's Assistant
Grocer's Assistant

29
33

Wadesboro
Wellington

15 years
5 days

St. Mark's Church, Wellington

06/6317

10 November 1906

Rev. R. Coffey

No	828
Date of Notice	10 November 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles William Watts	Minnie Rose Wingate
BDM Match (97%)	Charles William Watts	Minnie Rosa Wingate
	💍 1906/6369
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer's Assistant	Grocer's Assistant
Age	29	33
Dwelling Place	Wadesboro	Wellington
Length of Residence	15 years	5 days
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church, Wellington
Folio	06/6317
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 November 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Coffey

829

12 November 1906

Alfred Stephen Surman
Lenora Chitham

Alfred Stephen Surman
Lenora Chitham
💍 1906/7442

Bachelor
Spinster

Reporter

31
24

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
6 weeks

St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington

06/7502

12 November 1906

Rev. F. H. Sprott

No	829
Date of Notice	12 November 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Stephen Surman	Lenora Chitham
	💍 1906/7442
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Reporter
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington
Folio	06/7502
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 November 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. H. Sprott

830

12 November 1906

Frederick John Foster
Emily Edith Bennewith

Frederick John Foster
Emily Edith Bennewith
💍 1906/6519

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

23
24

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
6 weeks

Residence of Mr. J. Foster, 32 Austin Street, Wellington

06/6503

12 November 1906

Rev. J. J. Worth

No	830
Date of Notice	12 November 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick John Foster	Emily Edith Bennewith
	💍 1906/6519
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. Foster, 32 Austin Street, Wellington
Folio	06/6503
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 November 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Worth

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).