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 203

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 30 September 1906 Registrar Robt. N. Keeling

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

21 July 1906

George Grey
Lottie Ethel Mary Wiltshire

George Grey
Lottie Ethel Mary Wiltshire
💍 1906/4166

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

38 years
20 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
19 years

Registrar's Office, Palmerston North

06/4301

Catherine Sarah Wiltshire, Mother

21 July 1906

Robt. N. Keeling, Registrar, Palmerston North

No	78
Date of Notice	21 July 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Grey	Lottie Ethel Mary Wiltshire
	💍 1906/4166
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	38 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	19 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Palmerston North
Folio	06/4301
Consent	Catherine Sarah Wiltshire, Mother
Date of Certificate	21 July 1906
Officiating Minister	Robt. N. Keeling, Registrar, Palmerston North

25 July 1906

George Arbuthnot Lyne
Mary Emaline Hicks

George Arbuthnott Lyne
Mary Emaline Hicks
💍 1906/4174

Bachelor
Spinster

Grain Crusher

50 years
23 years

Feilding
Palmerston North

25 years
3 weeks

House of J. H. Anderson, Feilding

06/4309

25 July 1906

Rev. J. J. Lewis, Wesleyan Minister, Palmerston North

No	79
Date of Notice	25 July 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Arbuthnot Lyne	Mary Emaline Hicks
BDM Match (98%)	George Arbuthnott Lyne	Mary Emaline Hicks
	💍 1906/4174
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grain Crusher
Age	50 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	25 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	House of J. H. Anderson, Feilding
Folio	06/4309
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Lewis, Wesleyan Minister, Palmerston North

25 July 1906

Allan Hepburn Clifford
Margaret Agnes Brosnan

Allan Hepburn Clifford
Margaret Agnes Brown
💍 1906/4167

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

34 years
30 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

4 years
4 years

Registrar's Office, Palmerston North

06/4302

25 July 1906

Robt. N. Keeling, Registrar, Palmerston North

No	80
Date of Notice	25 July 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan Hepburn Clifford	Margaret Agnes Brosnan
BDM Match (93%)	Allan Hepburn Clifford	Margaret Agnes Brown
	💍 1906/4167
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	34 years	30 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Palmerston North
Folio	06/4302
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1906
Officiating Minister	Robt. N. Keeling, Registrar, Palmerston North

30 July 1906

Peter Regan
Nellie Sullivan

Peter Regan
Nellie Sullivan
💍 1906/4281

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Housekeeper

43 years
30 years

Aorangi
Aorangi

6 years
3 months

St. Patrick's Church, Palmerston North

06/4320

30 July 1906

Rev. P. C. Costello, Catholic Priest, Palmerston North

No	81
Date of Notice	30 July 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Regan	Nellie Sullivan
	💍 1906/4281
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Housekeeper
Age	43 years	30 years
Dwelling Place	Aorangi	Aorangi
Length of Residence	6 years	3 months
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Palmerston North
Folio	06/4320
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 July 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. C. Costello, Catholic Priest, Palmerston North

31 July 1906

Leonard John McDonald
Hilda Mary Nieman

Leonard John McDonald
Hilda Mary Niemann
💍 1906/4168

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

22 years
20 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

4 months
4 months

Registrar's Office, Palmerston North

06/4303

Alfred Nieman, Father

31 July 1906

Robt. N. Keeling, Registrar, Palmerston North

No	82
Date of Notice	31 July 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard John McDonald	Hilda Mary Nieman
BDM Match (97%)	Leonard John McDonald	Hilda Mary Niemann
	💍 1906/4168
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	22 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	4 months	4 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Palmerston North
Folio	06/4303
Consent	Alfred Nieman, Father
Date of Certificate	31 July 1906
Officiating Minister	Robt. N. Keeling, Registrar, Palmerston North

1 August 1906

Edward Albert Tunbridge
Elizabeth Fanny Hopkins

Edward Albert Tunbridge
Elizabeth Fanny Hopkins
💍 1906/5561

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter

21 years
21 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
21 years

House of Henry David Hopkins, Palmerston North

06/5367

1 August 1906

Rev. H. Beggs, Methodist Minister, Palmerston North

No	83
Date of Notice	1 August 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Albert Tunbridge	Elizabeth Fanny Hopkins
	💍 1906/5561
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter
Age	21 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	21 years
Marriage Place	House of Henry David Hopkins, Palmerston North
Folio	06/5367
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 August 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Beggs, Methodist Minister, Palmerston North

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).