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 776

District of Buller Quarter ending 31 December 1911 Registrar Frederick Henry Dodd

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

4 October 1911

John Snodgrass
Emily Florence Gertrude Bowater

John Snodgrass Junr
Emily Florence Gertrude Bowater
💍 1911/8065

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk of Court
Domestic

28
22

Westport
Westport

Since birth
3 years

W. Bowater's Private residence, Peel Street, Westport

11/8078

4 October 1911

Rev. J. R. Dart

No	45
Date of Notice	4 October 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Snodgrass	Emily Florence Gertrude Bowater
BDM Match (87%)	John Snodgrass Junr	Emily Florence Gertrude Bowater
	💍 1911/8065
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk of Court	Domestic
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	Since birth	3 years
Marriage Place	W. Bowater's Private residence, Peel Street, Westport
Folio	11/8078
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 October 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Dart

12 October 1911

Frederick Render
Agnes Rae

Frederick Render
Agnes Rae
💍 1911/8061

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

25
29

Westport
Westport

5 years
28 years

At the residence of Mrs. Rae, Romilly Street, Westport

11/8074

12 October 1911

Rev. J. R. Dart

No	46
Date of Notice	12 October 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Render	Agnes Rae
	💍 1911/8061
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	25	29
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	5 years	28 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of Mrs. Rae, Romilly Street, Westport
Folio	11/8074
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 October 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Dart

16 November 1911

Samuel Patterson
Elizabeth Ayers

Samuel Patterson
Elizabeth Ayers
💍 1911/8557

Bachelor
Widow

Miner
Hotel Keeper

36
45

Westport
Westport

9 years
15 years

Registrar of Marriages office, Westport

11/8589

16 November 1911

J. H. Dodd, Registrar

No	47
Date of Notice	16 November 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Patterson	Elizabeth Ayers
	💍 1911/8557
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Miner	Hotel Keeper
Age	36	45
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	9 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Registrar of Marriages office, Westport
Folio	11/8589
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 November 1911
Officiating Minister	J. H. Dodd, Registrar

20 November 1911

Lyola Silvester Gardiner
Violet May Johnson

Lyolia Silvester Gardiner
Violet May Johnson
💍 1911/8066

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic

23
16

Westport
Westport

9 weeks
9 weeks

Church of England, Westport

11/8079

Mary Ann Johnson, Mother

20 November 1911

Rev. J. R. Dart

No	48
Date of Notice	20 November 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lyola Silvester Gardiner	Violet May Johnson
BDM Match (98%)	Lyolia Silvester Gardiner	Violet May Johnson
	💍 1911/8066
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic
Age	23	16
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	9 weeks	9 weeks
Marriage Place	Church of England, Westport
Folio	11/8079
Consent	Mary Ann Johnson, Mother
Date of Certificate	20 November 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Dart

30 November 1911

William Helley
Elizabeth Haren Beatrice Jorgenson

William Hebley
Elizabeth Maren Beatrice Jorgensen
💍 1911/8685

Bachelor
Spinster

Slaughterman
Domestic

26
23

Westport
Westport

4 days
18 years

Roman Catholic Church, Westport

11/8772

30 November 1911

Rev. T. Walshe

No	49
Date of Notice	30 November 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Helley	Elizabeth Haren Beatrice Jorgenson
BDM Match (94%)	William Hebley	Elizabeth Maren Beatrice Jorgensen
	💍 1911/8685
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman	Domestic
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	4 days	18 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Westport
Folio	11/8772
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 November 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Walshe

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).