Intentions to Marry, 1911 Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840446, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1911 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, (1911a), Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1911b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1911c).

Page 222

District of Foxton Quarter ending 30 June 1911 Registrar A. D. Clemett

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

12 April 1911

Abner Forbes Wishart
Mary Ann Baker

Alexander Forbes Wishart
Mary Ann Baker
💍 1911/3243

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer
Tailoress

34
33

Masterton
Foxton

30 years
30 years

Private residence of Mark Perreau, Main Street Foxton

11/2909

12 April 1911

Rev Thomas Coatsworth, Methodist

No	87
Date of Notice	12 April 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Abner Forbes Wishart	Mary Ann Baker
BDM Match (90%)	Alexander Forbes Wishart	Mary Ann Baker
	💍 1911/3243
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Tailoress
Age	34	33
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Foxton
Length of Residence	30 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Private residence of Mark Perreau, Main Street Foxton
Folio	11/2909
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 April 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev Thomas Coatsworth, Methodist

24 April 1911

Abram Smith
Agnes Margaret Walls

Abram Smith
Agnes Margaret Walls
💍 1911/2723

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Tailoress

24
23

Foxton
Foxton

3 years
21 years

Private Residence of J. Walls, Coley Street Foxton

11/2372

24 April 1911

Rev Thomas Coatsworth, Methodist

No	88
Date of Notice	24 April 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Abram Smith	Agnes Margaret Walls
	💍 1911/2723
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Tailoress
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	3 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Private Residence of J. Walls, Coley Street Foxton
Folio	11/2372
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 April 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev Thomas Coatsworth, Methodist

22 May 1911

William O'Brien
Jane Hynes

William OBrien
Jane Hynes
💍 1911/4176

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic Duties

28
28

Foxton
Foxton

2 years
2 years

Roman Catholic Church, Foxton

11/3985

22 May 1911

Rev Father Kelly, Roman Catholic

No	89
Date of Notice	22 May 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William O'Brien	Jane Hynes
BDM Match (97%)	William OBrien	Jane Hynes
	💍 1911/4176
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic Duties
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Foxton
Folio	11/3985
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 May 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev Father Kelly, Roman Catholic

31 May 1911

William Arthur Robson
Madeleine Louisa Kyle

William Arthur Robson
Madeleine Louisa Kyle
💍 1911/4352

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

24
18

Foxton
Foxton

3 years
11 months

Roman Catholic Church, Foxton

11/4119

M. Kyle, Mother

31 May 1911

Rev Father Kelly, Roman Catholic

No	90
Date of Notice	31 May 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Arthur Robson	Madeleine Louisa Kyle
	💍 1911/4352
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	3 years	11 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Foxton
Folio	11/4119
Consent	M. Kyle, Mother
Date of Certificate	31 May 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev Father Kelly, Roman Catholic

6 June 1911

William James Baird
Emma Coley

William James Baird
Emily Coley
💍 1911/6650

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Cadet
Domestic Duties

20
21

Foxton
Palmerston North

5 months
21 years

Private house of Father, Church Street, Palmerston North

11/6256

W. Baird, Father

6 June 1911

Rev J. J. Homes, Wesleyan

No	91
Date of Notice	6 June 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Baird	Emma Coley
BDM Match (86%)	William James Baird	Emily Coley
	💍 1911/6650
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Cadet	Domestic Duties
Age	20	21
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	5 months	21 years
Marriage Place	Private house of Father, Church Street, Palmerston North
Folio	11/6256
Consent	W. Baird, Father
Date of Certificate	6 June 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev J. J. Homes, Wesleyan

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).