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 515

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

876

26 November 1906

Thomas Francis Hope Greig
Rhoda Fisk

Thomas Francis Hope Greig
Rhoda Fisk
💍 1906/6452

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

32
25

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

4 years
4 years

Residence of Mr. F. Fisk, Lower Hutt

06/6425

26 November 1906

Rev. W. Marshall

No	876
Date of Notice	26 November 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Francis Hope Greig	Rhoda Fisk
	💍 1906/6452
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	32	25
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. F. Fisk, Lower Hutt
Folio	06/6425
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 November 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Marshall

877

26 November 1906

William Davids Hughes
Mabel Luke

William David Hughes
Mabel Luke
💍 1906/6384

Bachelor
Spinster

Cycle Salesman

22
21

Wellington
Wellington

13 years
17 years

St. Peters Church, Wellington

06/6331

26 November 1906

Rev. C. W. G. Maclaverty

No	877
Date of Notice	26 November 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Davids Hughes	Mabel Luke
BDM Match (98%)	William David Hughes	Mabel Luke
	💍 1906/6384
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cycle Salesman
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	13 years	17 years
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church, Wellington
Folio	06/6331
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 November 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. W. G. Maclaverty

878

26 November 1906

Thomas Henry Jen Ruis
Alice Maud Jones

Thomas Henry Jenkins
Alice Maud Jones
💍 1906/4710

Bachelor
Spinster

Telephone Linesman

20
19

Wellington
Wellington

16 years
4 years

Residence of Mrs. Jen Ruis, 30 Jessie Street, Wellington

06/6366

Elizabeth Ann Jen Ruis, Mother; Sarah Ann Jones, Mother

26 November 1906

Rev. W. Shirer

No	878
Date of Notice	26 November 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Jen Ruis	Alice Maud Jones
BDM Match (91%)	Thomas Henry Jenkins	Alice Maud Jones
	💍 1906/4710
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telephone Linesman
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	16 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Jen Ruis, 30 Jessie Street, Wellington
Folio	06/6366
Consent	Elizabeth Ann Jen Ruis, Mother; Sarah Ann Jones, Mother
Date of Certificate	26 November 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

879

27 November 1906

Percy Vincent Way Smith
Alice Smith

Percy Vincent
Alice May Smith
💍 1906/6364

Bachelor
Spinster

Shop Assistant

23
20

Wellington
Wellington

1 WR
16 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

06/6288

Sarah Ann Smith, Mother

27 November 1906

G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

No	879
Date of Notice	27 November 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Vincent Way Smith	Alice Smith
BDM Match (65%)	Percy Vincent	Alice May Smith
	💍 1906/6364
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shop Assistant
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 WR	16 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	06/6288
Consent	Sarah Ann Smith, Mother
Date of Certificate	27 November 1906
Officiating Minister	G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

880

27 November 1906

George McAllister
Ellen Johnston Neilson

George McAllister
Ellen Johnstone Neilson
💍 1906/6782

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

26
23

Wellington
Wellington

7.5 months
8.5 months

Residence of Mrs. Crawford, 7 Tennyson Street, Wellington

06/6753

27 November 1906

Rev. B. Neilson

No	880
Date of Notice	27 November 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George McAllister	Ellen Johnston Neilson
BDM Match (98%)	George McAllister	Ellen Johnstone Neilson
	💍 1906/6782
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7.5 months	8.5 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Crawford, 7 Tennyson Street, Wellington
Folio	06/6753
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 November 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Neilson

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).