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 441

District of Wanganui Quarter ending 31 March 1912 Registrar Charles E. Hylton

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

24 January 1912

John Gray
Emma Isabella Clare

John Gray
Emma Isabella Clare
💍 1912/1392

Bachelor
Widow

Sheep farmer
Domestic duties

41
40

Long Acre Valley, Okoia
Aramoho, Wanganui

41 years
12 years

Residence of Mr Andrew Ross

12/1053

24 January 1912

E. D. Patchett, Wesleyan

No	12
Date of Notice	24 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Gray	Emma Isabella Clare
	💍 1912/1392
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Sheep farmer	Domestic duties
Age	41	40
Dwelling Place	Long Acre Valley, Okoia	Aramoho, Wanganui
Length of Residence	41 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Andrew Ross
Folio	12/1053
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1912
Officiating Minister	E. D. Patchett, Wesleyan

27 January 1912

William Henry Taylor
Ellen Augusta Wiggins

William Henry Taylor
Ellen Augusta Wiggins
💍 1912/1481

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Home duties

24
21

Wanganui
No 2 Line, Wanganui

14 years
21 years

Residence of Mr J. Wiggins

12/1077

27 January 1912

A. S. Wilson, Baptist

No	13
Date of Notice	27 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Taylor	Ellen Augusta Wiggins
	💍 1912/1481
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Home duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	No 2 Line, Wanganui
Length of Residence	14 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr J. Wiggins
Folio	12/1077
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1912
Officiating Minister	A. S. Wilson, Baptist

30 January 1912

Julius Barth
Eliza O'Connor

Julius Barth
Eliza O'Connor
💍 1912/1401

Bachelor
Widow

Wharf Labourer
Home duties

31
41

Wanganui
Wanganui

3 months
16 years

Roman Catholic Church

12/1056

30 January 1912

J. R. Holley, Roman Catholic

No	14
Date of Notice	30 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Julius Barth	Eliza O'Connor
	💍 1912/1401
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Wharf Labourer	Home duties
Age	31	41
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	3 months	16 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	12/1056
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1912
Officiating Minister	J. R. Holley, Roman Catholic

31 January 1912

Samuel Beak (more commonly known as Samuel Earland)
Alice Ann Cook

Samuel Earland
Alice Ann Cook
💍 1912/1741

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Domestic duties

24
17

Wanganui
Wanganui

6 years
6 years

Church of England, Aramoho

12/1451

Thomas Cook, father

31 January 1912

J. Walker, Church of England

No	15
Date of Notice	31 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Beak (more commonly known as Samuel Earland)	Alice Ann Cook
BDM Match (64%)	Samuel Earland	Alice Ann Cook
	💍 1912/1741
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Domestic duties
Age	24	17
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	6 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Aramoho
Folio	12/1451
Consent	Thomas Cook, father
Date of Certificate	31 January 1912
Officiating Minister	J. Walker, Church of England

2 February 1912

Harold Garnet Clinton Simmons
Elsie Parker

Harold Garnet Clinton Simmons
Elsie Parker
💍 1912/1394

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Clerk
Home duties

24
25

Wanganui
Wanganui

7 1/2 years
9 years

St Johns Church of England

12/1072

2 February 1912

H. Reeve, Church of England

No	16
Date of Notice	2 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Garnet Clinton Simmons	Elsie Parker
	💍 1912/1394
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Clerk	Home duties
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	7 1/2 years	9 years
Marriage Place	St Johns Church of England
Folio	12/1072
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1912
Officiating Minister	H. Reeve, Church of England

4 February 1912

Frank Duckworth
Kathleen Williams

Frank Duckworth
Kathleen Williams
💍 1912/671

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
School teacher

28
22

Wanganui
Wanganui

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office

12/344

4 February 1912

Chas. E. Hylton, Registrar

No	17
Date of Notice	4 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Duckworth	Kathleen Williams
	💍 1912/671
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	School teacher
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	12/344
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Chas. E. Hylton, 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).