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 346

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 31 March 1912 Registrar C. E. Shorth

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

13 February 1912

John Basil Gaisford
Helen Mary McInnes

John Basil Gaisford
Helen Mary Monro
💍 1912/1427

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

24
21

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
21 years

All Saints Anglican Church

12/1030

13 February 1912

H. G. Rosher, Anglican

No	14
Date of Notice	13 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Basil Gaisford	Helen Mary McInnes
BDM Match (86%)	John Basil Gaisford	Helen Mary Monro
	💍 1912/1427
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	21 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Anglican Church
Folio	12/1030
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1912
Officiating Minister	H. G. Rosher, Anglican

17 February 1912

Leo Foster Robert Herman
Alfred Hoehler

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Servant

32
26

Kelvin Grove
Palmerston North

32 years
4 years

Cuba St Methodist

12/4389

17 February 1912

J. J. Thomas, Methodist

No	15
Date of Notice	17 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leo Foster Robert Herman	Alfred Hoehler
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Servant
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Kelvin Grove	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	32 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Cuba St Methodist
Folio	12/4389
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1912
Officiating Minister	J. J. Thomas, Methodist

19 February 1912

Henry Billyeard
Jessie Louisa Bridges

Henry Billyeald
Jessie Louisa Bridges
💍 1912/708

Bachelor
Spinster

Wood Carver
Domestic Duties

24
22

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

1 week
1 week

Registrar's Office, Palmerston

12/357

19 February 1912

C. E. Shorth, Registrar

No	16
Date of Notice	19 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Billyeard	Jessie Louisa Bridges
BDM Match (97%)	Henry Billyeald	Jessie Louisa Bridges
	💍 1912/708
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wood Carver	Domestic Duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	1 week	1 week
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Palmerston
Folio	12/357
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1912
Officiating Minister	C. E. Shorth, Registrar

20 February 1912

Robert James McArdie
Margaret Gordon Donaldson

Robert James McAdie
Margaret Gordon Donaldson
💍 1912/1346

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee
Domestic Duties

31
27

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
16 months

Residence of Mrs J. Pye, 133 Main St. W.

12/1022

20 February 1912

A. Woulb, Presbyterian

No	17
Date of Notice	20 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert James McArdie	Margaret Gordon Donaldson
BDM Match (98%)	Robert James McAdie	Margaret Gordon Donaldson
	💍 1912/1346
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee	Domestic Duties
Age	31	27
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	16 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs J. Pye, 133 Main St. W.
Folio	12/1022
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1912
Officiating Minister	A. Woulb, Presbyterian

22 February 1912

Stanley Wallace Adlingtons
Isobel Mary Romley

Stanley Wallace Adlington
Isabel Mary Romley
💍 1912/1428

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Clerk

27
26

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

2 years
1 year 6 months

All Saints Anglican Church

12/1031

22 February 1912

H. G. Rosher, Anglican

No	18
Date of Notice	22 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Wallace Adlingtons	Isobel Mary Romley
BDM Match (95%)	Stanley Wallace Adlington	Isabel Mary Romley
	💍 1912/1428
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Clerk
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year 6 months
Marriage Place	All Saints Anglican Church
Folio	12/1031
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1912
Officiating Minister	H. G. Rosher, Anglican

6 March 1912

Roe Cumberland Cameron
Maisie Elaine Treager

Rae Cumberland Cameron
Maisie Elaine Kreger
💍 1912/709

Bachelor
Spinster

School Teacher
Domestic Duties

22
33

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Palmerston

12/358

6 March 1912

C. E. Shorth, Registrar

No	19
Date of Notice	6 March 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roe Cumberland Cameron	Maisie Elaine Treager
BDM Match (93%)	Rae Cumberland Cameron	Maisie Elaine Kreger
	💍 1912/709
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School Teacher	Domestic Duties
Age	22	33
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Palmerston
Folio	12/358
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1912
Officiating Minister	C. E. Shorth, Registrar

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).