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 339

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

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

25 January 1906

John Donnelley
Maud Cruickshank

John Donnelley
Maud Cruickshank
💍 1906/1976

Bachelor
Spinster

Canvassing Agent

26
21

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
4 weeks

Registrars Office, Wellington

06/622

25 January 1906

G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

No	66
Date of Notice	25 January 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Donnelley	Maud Cruickshank
	💍 1906/1976
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Canvassing Agent
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	4 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Wellington
Folio	06/622
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1906
Officiating Minister	G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

25 January 1906

Frank Roderique
Florence Skinner

Frank Roderique
Florence Skinner
💍 1906/1977

Bachelor
Spinster

Oyster Merchant

42
28

Wellington
Wellington

9 years
20 years

Registrars Office, Wellington

06/623

25 January 1906

G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

No	67
Date of Notice	25 January 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Roderique	Florence Skinner
	💍 1906/1977
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Oyster Merchant
Age	42	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Wellington
Folio	06/623
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1906
Officiating Minister	G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

26 January 1906

James Douglas Mill
Ethel Wilkinson Harbrow

James Douglas Will
Ethel Wilkinson Harbourn
💍 1906/2132

Bachelor
Spinster

Secretary, Y.M.C.A.

26
24

Wellington
Auckland

3 days
Life

Baptist Church, Vivian Street, Wellington

06/801

26 January 1906

Rev. J. J. North

No	68
Date of Notice	26 January 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Douglas Mill	Ethel Wilkinson Harbrow
BDM Match (89%)	James Douglas Will	Ethel Wilkinson Harbourn
	💍 1906/2132
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Secretary, Y.M.C.A.
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Vivian Street, Wellington
Folio	06/801
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. North

26 January 1906

William Vickers Donaldson
Isabella Chrystal Donaldson

William Vickers
Isabella Chrystal Donaldson
💍 1906/2094

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

38
27

Wellington
Wellington

5 days
3 days

Presbyterian Manse, Pine Street, Wellington

06/705

26 January 1906

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	69
Date of Notice	26 January 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Vickers Donaldson	Isabella Chrystal Donaldson
BDM Match (80%)	William Vickers	Isabella Chrystal Donaldson
	💍 1906/2094
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	38	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Pine Street, Wellington
Folio	06/705
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

26 January 1906

Alfred Wildon Harrison
Margaret Ellen Aitken

Alfred Wildon Harrison
Margaret Ellen Aitken
💍 1906/2015

Widower
Spinster

Publican

48
31

Wellington
Wellington

5 days
5 days

St. Pauls Church, Mulgrave Street, Wellington

06/658

26 January 1906

Rev. A. W. H. Compton

No	70
Date of Notice	26 January 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Wildon Harrison	Margaret Ellen Aitken
	💍 1906/2015
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Publican
Age	48	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 days	5 days
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Church, Mulgrave Street, Wellington
Folio	06/658
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. W. H. Compton

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).