Intentions to Marry, 1912 Hawkes Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840449, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1912 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Gisborne (1912a), Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1912b), and Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands (1912c).

Page 216

District of Feilding Quarter ending 31 March 1912 Registrar Attwood

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 January 1912

Arthur John May
Elizabeth Woulfe

Arthur John May
Elizabeth Woulfe
💍 1912/4201

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Clerk

30
21

Feilding
Feilding

3 days
21 years

Roman Catholic Church Feilding

12/406

16 January 1912

Rev. Michael O Dwyer

No	65
Date of Notice	16 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur John May	Elizabeth Woulfe
	💍 1912/4201
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Clerk
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	3 days	21 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Feilding
Folio	12/406
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. Michael O Dwyer

29 January 1912

George Henry Hoad
Jane Elizabeth Heayns

George Henry Wood
Jane Elizabeth Heayns
💍 1912/1448

Bachelor
Spinster

Pastrycook

26
25

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 weeks

Presbyterian Church Feilding

12/1152

29 January 1912

Rev Joseph White

No	66
Date of Notice	29 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Hoad	Jane Elizabeth Heayns
BDM Match (94%)	George Henry Wood	Jane Elizabeth Heayns
	💍 1912/1448
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Pastrycook
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Feilding
Folio	12/1152
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev Joseph White

5 February 1912

Alfred John Goodin
Lena Mary Rasmussen

Alfred John Goodin
Lena Mary Rasmussen
💍 1912/1456

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Manager

26
26

Feilding
Feilding

26 years
4 years

Presbyterian Manse Feilding

12/1153

5 February 1912

Rev George Budd

No	67
Date of Notice	5 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred John Goodin	Lena Mary Rasmussen
	💍 1912/1456
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Manager
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	26 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse Feilding
Folio	12/1153
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev George Budd

12 February 1912

Fred Alston
Elsie Johnstone

Fred Alston
Elsie Johnstone
💍 1912/1467

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

29
19

Feilding
Feilding

2 years
10 months

Presbyterian Manse Feilding

12/1154

Margaret Johnstone Mother

12 February 1912

Rev George Budd

No	68
Date of Notice	12 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fred Alston	Elsie Johnstone
	💍 1912/1467
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	29	19
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	2 years	10 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse Feilding
Folio	12/1154
Consent	Margaret Johnstone Mother
Date of Certificate	12 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev George Budd

13 February 1912

Thomas Smith Wicks
Ethel Emily Scott

Thomas Smith Dick
Ethel Emily Scott
💍 1912/1799

Bachelor
Spinster

Pastry Cook

21
18

Feilding
Feilding

3 days
18 years

Residence of John Henry Scott, Feilding

12/1461

John Henry Scott Father

13 February 1912

Rev. G G Cule

No	69
Date of Notice	13 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Smith Wicks	Ethel Emily Scott
BDM Match (94%)	Thomas Smith Dick	Ethel Emily Scott
	💍 1912/1799
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Pastry Cook
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	3 days	18 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John Henry Scott, Feilding
Folio	12/1461
Consent	John Henry Scott Father
Date of Certificate	13 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. G G Cule

14 February 1912

David Lilly
Sarah Elizabeth Doughty

David Lilly
Sarah Elizabeth Berry Doughty
💍 1912/1474

Widower
Widow

Draper

47
48

Feilding
Feilding

23 days
1 month

Residence of Joseph Beefen, Stafford St, Feilding

12/1155

14 February 1912

Rev Geo Budd

No	70
Date of Notice	14 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Lilly	Sarah Elizabeth Doughty
BDM Match (90%)	David Lilly	Sarah Elizabeth Berry Doughty
	💍 1912/1474
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Draper
Age	47	48
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	23 days	1 month
Marriage Place	Residence of Joseph Beefen, Stafford St, Feilding
Folio	12/1155
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev Geo Budd

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).