Intentions to Marry, 1910 Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840443, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1910 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki (1910a), Wellington, , Hawke's Bay, Nelson, Westland (1910b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1910c).

Page 545

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1910 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

488

8 July 1910

Arthur George Rich Williams
Clara Roberta Newall

Arthur George Rich Williams
Clara Roberta Newall
💍 1910/4222

Bachelor
Spinster

Metallurgist

38
35

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
19 years

Residence of Colonel Newall, Garden Road, Northland, Wellington

10/4400

8 July 1910

Rev. J. Gibson Smith

No	488
Date of Notice	8 July 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur George Rich Williams	Clara Roberta Newall
	💍 1910/4222
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Metallurgist
Age	38	35
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	19 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Colonel Newall, Garden Road, Northland, Wellington
Folio	10/4400
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibson Smith

489

8 July 1910

James Paterson Hewitt
Priscilla Nellie Aldous

James Paterson Hewitt
Priscilla Nellie Aldons
💍 1910/5681

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger

28
29

Wellington
Wellington

28 years
29 years

Terrace Congregational Church, Wellington

10/6038

8 July 1910

Rev. J. Paterson

No	489
Date of Notice	8 July 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Paterson Hewitt	Priscilla Nellie Aldous
BDM Match (98%)	James Paterson Hewitt	Priscilla Nellie Aldons
	💍 1910/5681
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	28 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Terrace Congregational Church, Wellington
Folio	10/6038
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson

490

8 July 1910

Albert Withers
Sybil Marshall

Albert Withers
Sybil Marshall
💍 1910/4431

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
21

Hutt
Johnsonville

2 weeks
Life

Residence of Mr. Thomas Marshall, Johnsonville

10/4596

8 July 1910

Rev. A. B. Chappell

No	490
Date of Notice	8 July 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Withers	Sybil Marshall
	💍 1910/4431
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Hutt	Johnsonville
Length of Residence	2 weeks	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Thomas Marshall, Johnsonville
Folio	10/4596
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. B. Chappell

491

9 July 1910

Edward Charles Ferris
Caroline Emma Aussel

Edward Charles Ferris
Caroline Emma Aussel
💍 1910/4486

Divorced (Decree absolute 8 July 1910)
Widow (21 December 1903)

Rangemaker

42
44

Wellington
Wellington

40 years
Life

Registrar's Office, Wellington

10/4691

9 July 1910

Registrar

No	491
Date of Notice	9 July 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Charles Ferris	Caroline Emma Aussel
	💍 1910/4486
Condition	Divorced (Decree absolute 8 July 1910)	Widow (21 December 1903)
Profession	Rangemaker
Age	42	44
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	40 years	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	10/4691
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1910
Officiating Minister	Registrar

492

11 July 1910

Albert Thomas Fellows
Catherine McVicar

Albert Thomas Fellows
Catherine McVicar
💍 1910/4231

Bachelor
Spinster

Billiard Table Maker

24
30

Wellington
Wellington

16 years
30 years

Presbyterian Manse, Pirie Street, Wellington

10/4408

11 July 1910

Rev. J. H. Elliott

No	492
Date of Notice	11 July 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Thomas Fellows	Catherine McVicar
	💍 1910/4231
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Billiard Table Maker
Age	24	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	16 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Pirie Street, Wellington
Folio	10/4408
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Elliott

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 1908. 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).