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 769

District of Buller Quarter ending 30 June 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

1 May 1911

Thomas Murphy
Annie Bird

Thomas Murphy
Annie Bird
💍 1911/4065

Bachelor
Widow

Laborer
Domestic

28
22

Westport
Westport

Since birth
10 mos

Mrs Aldridge Private Residence Peel Street Westport

11/3753

1 May 1911

Rev. J. J. McMenamin

No	18
Date of Notice	1 May 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Murphy	Annie Bird
	💍 1911/4065
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Laborer	Domestic
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	Since birth	10 mos
Marriage Place	Mrs Aldridge Private Residence Peel Street Westport
Folio	11/3753
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 May 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. McMenamin

20 May 1911

Francis Higgins
Catherine McFadden

Francis Higgins
Catherine McPadden
💍 1911/4054

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Domestic duties

29
28

Westport
Westport

4 years
since birth Westport

Roman Catholic Church

11/3752

20 May 1911

Rev T. Walshe

No	19
Date of Notice	20 May 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Higgins	Catherine McFadden
BDM Match (97%)	Francis Higgins	Catherine McPadden
	💍 1911/4054
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Domestic duties
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	4 years	since birth Westport
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	11/3752
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 May 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev T. Walshe

22 May 1911

Alexander McGillivray
Elizabeth Mikkelson

Alexander McGillivray
Elizabeth Mikkelson
💍 1911/4021

Widower
Widow

Dairyman
Domestic

65
56

Giles Terrace
Giles Terrace

25 years
20 years

Private residence Alexander McGillivray Giles Terrace

11/3751

22 May 1911

Rev. J. J. McMenamin

No	20
Date of Notice	22 May 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander McGillivray	Elizabeth Mikkelson
	💍 1911/4021
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Dairyman	Domestic
Age	65	56
Dwelling Place	Giles Terrace	Giles Terrace
Length of Residence	25 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Private residence Alexander McGillivray Giles Terrace
Folio	11/3751
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 May 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. McMenamin

27 May 1911

Harold Alexander Morris Jenkins
Grace McClean

Harold Alexander Morris Jenkins
Grace McLean
💍 1911/3805

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Domestic

23
18

Cape Foulwind
Cape Foulwind

2 years
Since birth

Private residence of Francis McClean

11/3406

Francis McClean, Father

27 May 1911

Rev J. R. Dart

No	21
Date of Notice	27 May 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Alexander Morris Jenkins	Grace McClean
BDM Match (92%)	Harold Alexander Morris Jenkins	Grace McLean
	💍 1911/3805
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Domestic
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Cape Foulwind	Cape Foulwind
Length of Residence	2 years	Since birth
Marriage Place	Private residence of Francis McClean
Folio	11/3406
Consent	Francis McClean, Father
Date of Certificate	27 May 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev J. R. Dart

6 June 1911

Leonard Sholl
Annie Watson

Leonard Stott
Annie Watson
💍 1911/4020

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

22
22

Westport
Westport

6 years
18 mos

Private residence Mrs Shannon Romilly St Westport

11/3750

6 June 1911

Rev J. J. McMenamin

No	22
Date of Notice	6 June 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Sholl	Annie Watson
BDM Match (88%)	Leonard Stott	Annie Watson
	💍 1911/4020
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	6 years	18 mos
Marriage Place	Private residence Mrs Shannon Romilly St Westport
Folio	11/3750
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 June 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev J. J. McMenamin

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).