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 185

District of Pahiatua Quarter ending 31 December 1906 Registrar J. S. Scallt

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

28 November 1906

James Clarke Weisehead
Mary Alexander Tulcher

James Clarke Whitehead
Mary Alexander Fulcher
💍 1906/6246

Widower
Spinster

Builder
Nil

35
22

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

3 days
20 years

Manse, Pahiatua

06/6144

28 November 1906

Wm Woollass

No	39
Date of Notice	28 November 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Clarke Weisehead	Mary Alexander Tulcher
BDM Match (93%)	James Clarke Whitehead	Mary Alexander Fulcher
	💍 1906/6246
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Nil
Age	35	22
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Manse, Pahiatua
Folio	06/6144
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 November 1906
Officiating Minister	Wm Woollass

15 December 1906

Harold Arthur Beers
Annie Johanna Olson

Harold Arthur Peters
Annie Johanna Olson
💍 1907/544

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic Servant

22
22

Scarborough
Pahiatua

6 years
3 years

Church of England, Pahiatua

07/628

15 December 1906

Geo Mainwaring

No	40
Date of Notice	15 December 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Arthur Beers	Annie Johanna Olson
BDM Match (95%)	Harold Arthur Peters	Annie Johanna Olson
	💍 1907/544
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Scarborough	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	6 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Pahiatua
Folio	07/628
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 December 1906
Officiating Minister	Geo Mainwaring

18 December 1906

Joseph Smith Berry
Aileen Rowell

Joseph Smith Berry
Aileen Powell
💍 1906/6247

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nil

39
22

Makuri
Makuri

13 years
4 years

Residence of J. A. Rowell, Makuri

06/6145

18 December 1906

W. Thompson

No	41
Date of Notice	18 December 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Smith Berry	Aileen Rowell
BDM Match (96%)	Joseph Smith Berry	Aileen Powell
	💍 1906/6247
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nil
Age	39	22
Dwelling Place	Makuri	Makuri
Length of Residence	13 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of J. A. Rowell, Makuri
Folio	06/6145
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 December 1906
Officiating Minister	W. Thompson

22 December 1906

William Denver
Annie Chapman

William Harvey
May Chapman
💍 1906/4132

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nil

25
19

Makomako
Makomako

3 years
3 weeks

Residence of J. O. Peard, Makomako

06/6140

22 December 1906

S. Leach

No	42
Date of Notice	22 December 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Denver	Annie Chapman
BDM Match (66%)	William Harvey	May Chapman
	💍 1906/4132
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nil
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Makomako	Makomako
Length of Residence	3 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of J. O. Peard, Makomako
Folio	06/6140
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1906
Officiating Minister	S. Leach

27 December 1906

Gordon Henry Longden Barringham
Leah Rhodes

Gordon Peters Longden Carrington
Leah Eades
💍 1906/7721

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Nil

39
19

Ohinewai
Ohinewai

6 months
6 years

Registrar's Office, Pahiatua

06/6138

27 December 1906

J. Tanner (Dep. Regr.)

No	43
Date of Notice	27 December 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gordon Henry Longden Barringham	Leah Rhodes
BDM Match (74%)	Gordon Peters Longden Carrington	Leah Eades
	💍 1906/7721
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Nil
Age	39	19
Dwelling Place	Ohinewai	Ohinewai
Length of Residence	6 months	6 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Pahiatua
Folio	06/6138
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 December 1906
Officiating Minister	J. Tanner (Dep. Regr.)

31 December 1906

Frederick William Smith
Margaret Ellen Jaggard

Frederick William Smith
Margaret Ellen Taggart
💍 1907/546

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Nil

25
28

Pahiatua
Mangataianoka

12 years
16 years

Church of England, Mangataianoka

07/630

31 December 1906

A. W. A. Compton

No	44
Date of Notice	31 December 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Smith	Margaret Ellen Jaggard
BDM Match (95%)	Frederick William Smith	Margaret Ellen Taggart
	💍 1907/546
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Nil
Age	25	28
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Mangataianoka
Length of Residence	12 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Mangataianoka
Folio	07/630
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 December 1906
Officiating Minister	A. W. A. 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).