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 522

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1912 Registrar C. C. Oddie

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

151

26 February 1912

James O'Brien
Christina Isaac

James O'Brien
Hessie Jane Johnston
💍 1912/3180

Widower
Spinster

Farmer

51
28

Wellington
Wellington

1 week
1 year

St. Mary of the Angels Church Wellington

Not Sold

26 February 1912

Rev. J. Coggan

No	151
Date of Notice	26 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James O'Brien	Christina Isaac
BDM Match (60%)	James O'Brien	Hessie Jane Johnston
	💍 1912/3180
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	51	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 week	1 year
Marriage Place	St. Mary of the Angels Church Wellington
Folio	Not Sold
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Coggan

152

26 February 1912

Andrew Clark
Emma Bott

Andrew Clark
Emma Bott
💍 1912/1122

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

26
28

Wellington
Wellington

18 years
28 years

Residence of Mr. J. Bott, 31 Wilson Street

12/747

26 February 1912

Rev. L. B. Fordyce Carlisle

No	152
Date of Notice	26 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Clark	Emma Bott
	💍 1912/1122
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. Bott, 31 Wilson Street
Folio	12/747
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. B. Fordyce Carlisle

153

26 February 1912

Herbert Osborne McFarlane
Fanny Cathcart Boote

Herbert Osbourne McFarlane
Fanny Cathcart Coote
💍 1912/1025

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Agent

30
31

Wellington
Wellington

11 days
4 years

Residence of Mr. Boote, 97 Rintoul Street

12/650

26 February 1912

Rev. W. A. Evans

No	153
Date of Notice	26 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Osborne McFarlane	Fanny Cathcart Boote
BDM Match (96%)	Herbert Osbourne McFarlane	Fanny Cathcart Coote
	💍 1912/1025
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Agent
Age	30	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	11 days	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Boote, 97 Rintoul Street
Folio	12/650
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Evans

154

26 February 1912

Geoffrey Vincent Hill
Norah Mary Redmond

Geoffrey Vincent Hill
Norah Mary Redmond
💍 1912/1119

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

21
24

Brooklyn
Wellington

15 years
16 months

St. Josephs Church Wellington

12/745

26 February 1912

Rev. T. O'Shea

No	154
Date of Notice	26 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Geoffrey Vincent Hill	Norah Mary Redmond
	💍 1912/1119
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	21	24
Dwelling Place	Brooklyn	Wellington
Length of Residence	15 years	16 months
Marriage Place	St. Josephs Church Wellington
Folio	12/745
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. O'Shea

155

27 February 1912

Henry Harold Anslow
Lily Elizabeth French

Henry Harold Anslow
Lily Elizabeth Freach
💍 1912/1056

Bachelor
Spinster

Shop Fitter

24
18

Maungaraki
Petone

4 years
2 years

St. Augustines Church Petone

12/683

Oscar George French, Father

27 February 1912

Rev. G. B. Stephenson

No	155
Date of Notice	27 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Harold Anslow	Lily Elizabeth French
BDM Match (98%)	Henry Harold Anslow	Lily Elizabeth Freach
	💍 1912/1056
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shop Fitter
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Maungaraki	Petone
Length of Residence	4 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustines Church Petone
Folio	12/683
Consent	Oscar George French, Father
Date of Certificate	27 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Stephenson

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).