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 541

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1912 Registrar Gilbert Graham Hodgkins

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

241

26 March 1912

Horace Haplesden Morris
Helen Morris

Horace Maplesden
Helen Morris
💍 1912/4366

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

28
23

Wellington
Wellington

24 years
12 years

Unitarian Church, Ingestre Street

12/4208

26 March 1912

Rev. M. Jellie

No	241
Date of Notice	26 March 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horace Haplesden Morris	Helen Morris
BDM Match (83%)	Horace Maplesden	Helen Morris
	💍 1912/4366
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	24 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Unitarian Church, Ingestre Street
Folio	12/4208
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Jellie

242

26 March 1912

Rupert William Reginald Patrick St. Leger O'Halloran
Ellen O'Halloran

Rupert William Reginald Patrick St Leger
Ellen OHalloran
💍 1912/1073

Widower
Widow

Commercial Traveller

28
40

Porirua
Porirua

4 days
20 years

Roman Catholic Church, Hutt

12/673

26 March 1912

Rev. J. J. Lane

No	242
Date of Notice	26 March 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rupert William Reginald Patrick St. Leger O'Halloran	Ellen O'Halloran
BDM Match (85%)	Rupert William Reginald Patrick St Leger	Ellen OHalloran
	💍 1912/1073
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	28	40
Dwelling Place	Porirua	Porirua
Length of Residence	4 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Hutt
Folio	12/673
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Lane

243

26 March 1912

Ernest Henry Short
Githa Coates

Ernest Henry Short
Giltha Coates
💍 1912/2773

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

27
22

Wellington
Wellington

9 months
2 years

St. Peter's Church, Wellington

12/2569

26 March 1912

Arch. C. C. Harper

No	243
Date of Notice	26 March 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Henry Short	Githa Coates
BDM Match (96%)	Ernest Henry Short	Giltha Coates
	💍 1912/2773
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 months	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Wellington
Folio	12/2569
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1912
Officiating Minister	Arch. C. C. Harper

244

27 March 1912

Isidore Asher Hyman
Leba Pearl Hoffer

Isidore Asher Hyman
Lela Pearl Shoffer
💍 1912/1071

Bachelor
Spinster

Clothier

28
21

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
Life

The Synagogue, The Terrace, Wellington

12/671

27 March 1912

Rev. H. van Staveren

No	244
Date of Notice	27 March 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Isidore Asher Hyman	Leba Pearl Hoffer
BDM Match (92%)	Isidore Asher Hyman	Lela Pearl Shoffer
	💍 1912/1071
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clothier
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	The Synagogue, The Terrace, Wellington
Folio	12/671
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. van Staveren

245

27 March 1912

Charles Charlwood
Alice Logan

Charles Charlwood
Alice Logan
💍 1912/1124

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
20

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
20 years

Residence of Mr. D. Logan, 70 Taranaki Street, Wellington

12/749

Daniel Logan, father of bride

27 March 1912

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	245
Date of Notice	27 March 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Charlwood	Alice Logan
	💍 1912/1124
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. D. Logan, 70 Taranaki Street, Wellington
Folio	12/749
Consent	Daniel Logan, father of bride
Date of Certificate	27 March 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

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).