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 718

District of Kaikoura Quarter ending 31 March 1902 Registrar R. J. Patton

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

6 January 1902

Herbert Leonard Trigger
Amy Sarah Thake

Herbert Leonard Trigger
Amy Sarah Ihake
💍 1912/4604

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Hand
Cook

34
30

Clarence Bridge
Kaikoura

3 months
8 weeks

English Church, Kaikoura

12/4409

6 January 1902

Rev N. A. Friberg

No	1
Date of Notice	6 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Leonard Trigger	Amy Sarah Thake
BDM Match (97%)	Herbert Leonard Trigger	Amy Sarah Ihake
	💍 1912/4604
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Hand	Cook
Age	34	30
Dwelling Place	Clarence Bridge	Kaikoura
Length of Residence	3 months	8 weeks
Marriage Place	English Church, Kaikoura
Folio	12/4409
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev N. A. Friberg

17 February 1902

James Mary Joseph Kerr
Laura Agnes McRae

James Mary Joseph Kerr
Laura Agnes McRae
💍 1912/4611

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic Duties

25
21

Kaikoura
Kaikoura

25 years
16 years

Geo McRae's Private Residence, Kaikoura

12/4410

17 February 1902

Rev Father Peoples

No	2
Date of Notice	17 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Mary Joseph Kerr	Laura Agnes McRae
	💍 1912/4611
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic Duties
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Kaikoura	Kaikoura
Length of Residence	25 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Geo McRae's Private Residence, Kaikoura
Folio	12/4410
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev Father Peoples

21 February 1902

William Alex Adams
Alice Isabel Schroder

William Alexander Adams
Alice Isabela Schroder
💍 1912/1833

Bachelor
Spinster

Manager, Dairy Factory
Domestic Duties

26
22

Kaikoura
Kaikoura

10 years
22 years

St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Kaikoura

12/1502

21 February 1902

Rev Wm Mcara

No	3
Date of Notice	21 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alex Adams	Alice Isabel Schroder
BDM Match (87%)	William Alexander Adams	Alice Isabela Schroder
	💍 1912/1833
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Manager, Dairy Factory	Domestic Duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Kaikoura	Kaikoura
Length of Residence	10 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Kaikoura
Folio	12/1502
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev Wm Mcara

18 March 1902

Wm Francis Adair
Emily Ann Laugesen

William Francis Adair
Emily Annie Langesen
💍 1912/4229

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic Duties

28
19

Kaikoura
Kaikoura

28 years
7 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch

12/40915

Waldemar Laugesen, father

18 March 1902

Rev Bishop Grimes

No	4
Date of Notice	18 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wm Francis Adair	Emily Ann Laugesen
BDM Match (81%)	William Francis Adair	Emily Annie Langesen
	💍 1912/4229
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Kaikoura	Kaikoura
Length of Residence	28 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch
Folio	12/40915
Consent	Waldemar Laugesen, father
Date of Certificate	18 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev Bishop Grimes

20 March 1902

Allan Howard Laugesen
Catherine Robb

Allan Howard
Catherine Robb
💍 1912/1822

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

35
24

Kaikoura
Kaikoura

35 years
24 years

Kawhai Presbyterian Church, Kaikoura

12/1501

20 March 1902

Rev Wm Mcara

No	5
Date of Notice	20 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan Howard Laugesen	Catherine Robb
BDM Match (79%)	Allan Howard	Catherine Robb
	💍 1912/1822
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	35	24
Dwelling Place	Kaikoura	Kaikoura
Length of Residence	35 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Kawhai Presbyterian Church, Kaikoura
Folio	12/1501
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev Wm Mcara

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).