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 340

District of Pahiatua Quarter ending 30 September 1912 Registrar Daniel O'Donoghue

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

2 July 1912

William Joseph Quirke
Mildred Drysdale Matheson

William Joseph Quirke
Mildred Drysdale Matheson
💍 1912/7739

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

30
23

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

17 years
23 years

Roman Catholic Church, Pahiatua

12/5692

2 July 1912

Rev. J. McKenna

No	19
Date of Notice	2 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Joseph Quirke	Mildred Drysdale Matheson
	💍 1912/7739
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	17 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Pahiatua
Folio	12/5692
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. McKenna

4 September 1912

Robert Madisla de Montalk
Evelyn Mary Hichson

Robert Wladislas de Montalk
Evelyn Mary Hickson
💍 1912/7741

Widower
Spinster

Architect
Domestic Duties

40
36

Auckland
Pahiatua

10 years
6 days

St. Peter's Church, Pahiatua

12/5694

4 September 1912

Rev. C. H. Isaacon

No	20
Date of Notice	4 September 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Madisla de Montalk	Evelyn Mary Hichson
BDM Match (92%)	Robert Wladislas de Montalk	Evelyn Mary Hickson
	💍 1912/7741
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Architect	Domestic Duties
Age	40	36
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	10 years	6 days
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Pahiatua
Folio	12/5694
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 September 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Isaacon

7 September 1912

Walter Valentine Williams
Anne Isabella Cade

Walter Valentine Williams
Anne Isabella Cade
💍 1912/5083

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer
Accountant

30
24

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

14 years
19 years

Residence of Mr. Robert Cade

12/6418

7 September 1912

Rev. J. Chalmers Hill

No	21
Date of Notice	7 September 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Valentine Williams	Anne Isabella Cade
	💍 1912/5083
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer	Accountant
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	14 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Robert Cade
Folio	12/6418
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 September 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Chalmers Hill

20 September 1912

Walter Cade
Mary Jane Horne

Walter Cade
Mary Jane Horne
💍 1912/7799

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Domestic Duties

26
20

Pahiatua
Ballance

14 years
10 years

Residence of Mr. S. S. Horne

12/5960

S. S. Horne, father; Elspet S. Horne, mother

20 September 1912

Rev. R. Gardner

No	22
Date of Notice	20 September 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Cade	Mary Jane Horne
	💍 1912/7799
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Domestic Duties
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Ballance
Length of Residence	14 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. S. S. Horne
Folio	12/5960
Consent	S. S. Horne, father; Elspet S. Horne, mother
Date of Certificate	20 September 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Gardner

21 September 1912

Thomas Harry Goodwin
Elsie Margaret Gilbert

Thomas Harry Goodwin
Elsie Margaret Gilbert
💍 1912/7740

Bachelor
Spinster

Creamery Manager
Domestic Duties

27
17

Mangamutu
Koriniti

5 months
2 years

Anglican Church, Pahiatua

12/5695

father of bride

21 September 1912

Rev. C. H. Isaacon

No	23
Date of Notice	21 September 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Harry Goodwin	Elsie Margaret Gilbert
	💍 1912/7740
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Creamery Manager	Domestic Duties
Age	27	17
Dwelling Place	Mangamutu	Koriniti
Length of Residence	5 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Pahiatua
Folio	12/5695
Consent	father of bride
Date of Certificate	21 September 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Isaacon

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).