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 345

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1906 Registrar G. G. Hodfkins

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

5 February 1906

Francis Henry Cooper
Ada Frances Webb

Francis Henry Cooper
Ada Frances Webb
💍 1906/2043

Bachelor
Spinster

Motorman

26
31

Wellington
Wellington South

14 months
5 days

St Thomas Church

06/684

5 February 1906

Rev I. Walker

No	96
Date of Notice	5 February 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Henry Cooper	Ada Frances Webb
	💍 1906/2043
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motorman
Age	26	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington South
Length of Residence	14 months	5 days
Marriage Place	St Thomas Church
Folio	06/684
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev I. Walker

6 February 1906

Allaster Lachlan Napier Maclean
Jerena Mary Congreve Butt

Allaster Lachlan Napier Maclean
Serena Mary Congress Butt
💍 1906/2079

Bachelor
Spinster

Surgeon

40
26

Wellington
Willis Street, Wellington

2 years
11 years

St Peters Church

06/673

6 February 1906

Rev G. P. Davys

No	97
Date of Notice	6 February 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allaster Lachlan Napier Maclean	Jerena Mary Congreve Butt
BDM Match (94%)	Allaster Lachlan Napier Maclean	Serena Mary Congress Butt
	💍 1906/2079
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surgeon
Age	40	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Willis Street, Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	11 years
Marriage Place	St Peters Church
Folio	06/673
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev G. P. Davys

6 February 1906

Robert McCheyne Miller
Joanna Maitland Oliver

Robert McCheyne Miller
Joanna Maitland Oliver
💍 1906/2161

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener

30
29

Wellington
Wellington

9 months
6 months

Wesleyan Manse, Taranaki Street

06/780

6 February 1906

Rev P. W. Fairclough

No	98
Date of Notice	6 February 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert McCheyne Miller	Joanna Maitland Oliver
	💍 1906/2161
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Manse, Taranaki Street
Folio	06/780
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev P. W. Fairclough

6 February 1906

Adolphus Jacob Zacariah
Gertrude Leah Citron

Adolphus Jacob Zachariah
Gertrude Leah Citron
💍 1906/1945

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor

32
28

Christchurch
Terrace, Wellington

4 days
5 years

Jewish Synagogue, Wellington

06/807

6 February 1906

Rev N. Tom Staveren

No	99
Date of Notice	6 February 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Adolphus Jacob Zacariah	Gertrude Leah Citron
BDM Match (98%)	Adolphus Jacob Zachariah	Gertrude Leah Citron
	💍 1906/1945
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Terrace, Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	5 years
Marriage Place	Jewish Synagogue, Wellington
Folio	06/807
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev N. Tom Staveren

100

6 February 1906

John Charleston Sykes
Mary Agnes Sykes

John Charleston
Mary Agness Sykes
💍 1906/1985

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

28
21

Wellington
Wellington

10 years
2 years

Registrars Office, Wellington

06/630

6 February 1906

G. G. Hodfkins, Deputy Registrar

No	100
Date of Notice	6 February 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Charleston Sykes	Mary Agnes Sykes
BDM Match (83%)	John Charleston	Mary Agness Sykes
	💍 1906/1985
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Wellington
Folio	06/630
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1906
Officiating Minister	G. G. Hodfkins, Deputy Registrar

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).