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 341

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 31 March 1911 Registrar Charles Edward Shortt

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

16 March 1911

John McAtamney
Dorothea Arnaboldi

John McAtamney
Dorothea Arnaboldi
💍 1911/1075

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer

30 years
33 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Palmerston North

11/551

16 March 1911

C. E. Shortt, Registrar of Marriages

No	35
Date of Notice	16 March 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McAtamney	Dorothea Arnaboldi
	💍 1911/1075
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer
Age	30 years	33 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Palmerston North
Folio	11/551
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1911
Officiating Minister	C. E. Shortt, Registrar of Marriages

18 March 1911

David Barclay
Norah May McEwen

David Barclay Healey
Nora May McEwen
💍 1911/1215

Bachelor
Spinster

Flaxmill Hand

22 years
18 years

Palmerston North
Jackeytown

7 years
18 years residence

Mrs. Mary Ann McEwen's residence

11/634

Mary Ann McEwen, Mother

18 March 1911

Rev. G. R. Aitken, Presbyterian Minister

No	36
Date of Notice	18 March 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Barclay	Norah May McEwen
BDM Match (79%)	David Barclay Healey	Nora May McEwen
	💍 1911/1215
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Flaxmill Hand
Age	22 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Jackeytown
Length of Residence	7 years	18 years residence
Marriage Place	Mrs. Mary Ann McEwen's residence
Folio	11/634
Consent	Mary Ann McEwen, Mother
Date of Certificate	18 March 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. R. Aitken, Presbyterian Minister

20 March 1911

Keith Stratford Armstrong
Caroline Helena Fleming

Keith Stratford Armstrong
Caroline Helena Fleming
💍 1911/1085

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor

33 years
33 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

4 years
5 years

All Saints Church, Palmerston North

11/538

20 March 1911

Rev. G. W. Kendrick, English Church

No	37
Date of Notice	20 March 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Keith Stratford Armstrong	Caroline Helena Fleming
	💍 1911/1085
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	33 years	33 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	4 years	5 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Palmerston North
Folio	11/538
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 March 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Kendrick, English Church

23 March 1911

Bruce McFarlane
Mabel May Freeman

Bruce McFarlane
Mabel May Freeman
💍 1911/1076

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist

24 years
22 years

Palmerston North
Dannevirke

12 years
13 years

Registrar's Office, Palmerston North

11/552

23 March 1911

C. E. Shortt, Registrar of Marriages

No	38
Date of Notice	23 March 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bruce McFarlane	Mabel May Freeman
	💍 1911/1076
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist
Age	24 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	12 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Palmerston North
Folio	11/552
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1911
Officiating Minister	C. E. Shortt, Registrar of Marriages

24 March 1911

Arthur Browne
Martha Rainey

Arthur Browne
Martha Rainey
💍 1911/1077

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Dressmaker

28 years
29 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Palmerston North

11/553

24 March 1911

C. E. Shortt, Registrar of Marriages

No	39
Date of Notice	24 March 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Browne	Martha Rainey
	💍 1911/1077
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Dressmaker
Age	28 years	29 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Palmerston North
Folio	11/553
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1911
Officiating Minister	C. E. Shortt, Registrar of Marriages

24 March 1911

Herbert Duncalf
Annie Pickthall

Herbert Duncalf
Annie Pickthall
💍 1911/1474

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

28 years
29 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

5 days
5 days

Residence of Peter Hanson, Cameron's Line, Awahuri

11/967

24 March 1911

Rev. M. Christensen, Lutheran

No	40
Date of Notice	24 March 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Duncalf	Annie Pickthall
	💍 1911/1474
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	28 years	29 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	5 days	5 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Peter Hanson, Cameron's Line, Awahuri
Folio	11/967
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Christensen, Lutheran

27 March 1911

George Ernest Ladd
Eva Maggie Blake

George Ernest Ladd
Eva Maggie May Blake
💍 1911/8918

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

21 years
20 years

Bunnythorpe
Palmerston North

5 years
20 years

Residence of Mr. J. P. Blake, Mourad Street, Palmerston North

11/3950

Thomas Prout Blake, father

27 March 1911

Rev. J. J. Thomas, Methodist Minister

No	41
Date of Notice	27 March 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Ernest Ladd	Eva Maggie Blake
BDM Match (90%)	George Ernest Ladd	Eva Maggie May Blake
	💍 1911/8918
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	21 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Bunnythorpe	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	5 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. P. Blake, Mourad Street, Palmerston North
Folio	11/3950
Consent	Thomas Prout Blake, father
Date of Certificate	27 March 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Thomas, Methodist Minister

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).