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 858

District of Reefton Quarter ending 30 September 1911 Registrar Henry Smith

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

20 July 1911

Sydney Thomas Provis
Eleanor Frances Feary

Sidney Thomas Provis
Eleanor Frances Feary
💍 1911/5852

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

25
24

Reefton
Reefton

7 years
8 months

Anglican Vicarage, Reefton

11/5699

20 July 1911

Rev. F. Quintrell, Anglican

No	16
Date of Notice	20 July 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Thomas Provis	Eleanor Frances Feary
BDM Match (98%)	Sidney Thomas Provis	Eleanor Frances Feary
	💍 1911/5852
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Reefton
Length of Residence	7 years	8 months
Marriage Place	Anglican Vicarage, Reefton
Folio	11/5699
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Quintrell, Anglican

22 July 1911

William Rea
Mary Ellen Smith

William Rea
Mary Ellen Smith
💍 1911/4706

Bachelor
Widow

Carter
Domestic duties

41
40

Inangahua Landing
Inangahua Landing

16 years
3 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Reefton

11/4509

22 July 1911

Henry Smith, Registrar

No	17
Date of Notice	22 July 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Rea	Mary Ellen Smith
	💍 1911/4706
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Carter	Domestic duties
Age	41	40
Dwelling Place	Inangahua Landing	Inangahua Landing
Length of Residence	16 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Reefton
Folio	11/4509
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1911
Officiating Minister	Henry Smith, Registrar

25 July 1911

Richard Thomas Allen
Phoebe Annie Caroline Walsleben

Richard Thomas Allen
Phoebe Annie Caroline Walsleben
💍 1911/5834

Bachelor
Spinster

Battery-hand
Domestic duties

25
28

Reefton
Reefton

25 years
28 years

Residence of H.R.A. Walsleben, Main Street, Reefton

11/5697

25 July 1911

Rev. F. Quintrell, Anglican

No	18
Date of Notice	25 July 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Thomas Allen	Phoebe Annie Caroline Walsleben
	💍 1911/5834
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Battery-hand	Domestic duties
Age	25	28
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Reefton
Length of Residence	25 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Residence of H.R.A. Walsleben, Main Street, Reefton
Folio	11/5697
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Quintrell, Anglican

16 August 1911

Henry Leggoe
Margaret Williams

Henry Leggoe
Margaret Williams
💍 1911/5843

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic duties

23
19

Reefton
Black's Point

23 years
19 years

Wesley Church, Reefton

11/5715

Sarah Williams, Mother

16 August 1911

Rev. R. Wilson, Methodist

No	19
Date of Notice	16 August 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Leggoe	Margaret Williams
	💍 1911/5843
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic duties
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Black's Point
Length of Residence	23 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Wesley Church, Reefton
Folio	11/5715
Consent	Sarah Williams, Mother
Date of Certificate	16 August 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Wilson, Methodist

18 August 1911

Arthur William James Leggoe
Edith Dabell

Arthur William James Leggoe
Edith Dalzell
💍 1911/5845

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Tailoress

27
21

Reefton
Reefton

27 years
9 months

Anglican Church, Reefton

11/5698

18 August 1911

Rev. F. Quintrell, Anglican

No	20
Date of Notice	18 August 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur William James Leggoe	Edith Dabell
BDM Match (92%)	Arthur William James Leggoe	Edith Dalzell
	💍 1911/5845
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Tailoress
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Reefton
Length of Residence	27 years	9 months
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Reefton
Folio	11/5698
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 August 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Quintrell, Anglican

22 September 1911

Stanley Victor Fraser
Catherine Mary Arnal

Stanley Victor Magee
Catherine May Arnal
💍 1911/5947

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Domestic duties

20
25

Globe Hill
Globe Hill

3 years
10 years

Residence of Frederick & Hooker, Grey Road, Reefton

11/5850

James Fraser, Father

22 September 1911

Rev. A. Galerne, Roman Catholic

No	21
Date of Notice	22 September 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Victor Fraser	Catherine Mary Arnal
BDM Match (88%)	Stanley Victor Magee	Catherine May Arnal
	💍 1911/5947
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Domestic duties
Age	20	25
Dwelling Place	Globe Hill	Globe Hill
Length of Residence	3 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Frederick & Hooker, Grey Road, Reefton
Folio	11/5850
Consent	James Fraser, Father
Date of Certificate	22 September 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Galerne, Roman Catholic

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).