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 731

District of Pelorus Quarter ending 30 September 1912 Registrar P. J. Macalister

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 July 1912

Joseph Henry Redwood
Marianne Coakley

Joseph Henry Redwood
Marianne Coakley
💍 1912/9358

Widower
Spinster

Sheep Farmer
Postmistress

64
52

Okoha
Okoha

2 years
2 years

at the residence of Mr. J H Redwood, Okoha

12/8674

13 July 1912

Rev Father Fay

No	9
Date of Notice	13 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Henry Redwood	Marianne Coakley
	💍 1912/9358
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer	Postmistress
Age	64	52
Dwelling Place	Okoha	Okoha
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	at the residence of Mr. J H Redwood, Okoha
Folio	12/8674
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev Father Fay

22 July 1912

Tamati Wirihana
Kera Hemi Whiro

[Not in computerised index -Name: Tamati Wirihana Exact Gender: Female Marriage Year: 1912 Exact Marriage Place: New Zealand Spouse: Hera Watene Whiro Relation: Bride (Wife) Folio Number: 8813]

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Household duties

27
19

Ruapaka Canvastown
Canvastown

18 months
2 years

St Pauls Church, Canvastown

12/8813

Watene Hemi Whiro, father

22 July 1912

Rev Archdeacon Grace

No	10
Date of Notice	22 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Tamati Wirihana	Kera Hemi Whiro
	💍 [Not in computerised index -Name: Tamati Wirihana Exact Gender: Female Marriage Year: 1912 Exact Marriage Place: New Zealand Spouse: Hera Watene Whiro Relation: Bride (Wife) Folio Number: 8813]
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Household duties
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Ruapaka Canvastown	Canvastown
Length of Residence	18 months	2 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Church, Canvastown
Folio	12/8813
Consent	Watene Hemi Whiro, father
Date of Certificate	22 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev Archdeacon Grace

24 July 1912

Frederick James Templeman
Gladys Minnie McMillan

Frederick James Templeman
Gladys Minnie McMillan
💍 1912/5934

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Household duties

21
20

Havelock
Havelock Suburban

12 months
20 years

at the residence of Mr. A McMillan, Havelock Suburban

12/4972

Aenaes McMillan, father

24 July 1912

Rev C Aker

No	11
Date of Notice	24 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick James Templeman	Gladys Minnie McMillan
	💍 1912/5934
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Household duties
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Havelock	Havelock Suburban
Length of Residence	12 months	20 years
Marriage Place	at the residence of Mr. A McMillan, Havelock Suburban
Folio	12/4972
Consent	Aenaes McMillan, father
Date of Certificate	24 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev C Aker

7 August 1912

Meriton Johnson
Annie Thurza Kathleen Foote

Meriton Johnson
Annie Thurza Kathleen Foote
💍 1912/5524

Bachelor
Spinster

Watchmaker
Domestic duties

21
26

Blenheim
Wilsons Bay Pelorus Sounds

6 years
26 years

at the Church of St Peter, Havelock

12/8812

7 August 1912

Rev A W C Stace

No	12
Date of Notice	7 August 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Meriton Johnson	Annie Thurza Kathleen Foote
	💍 1912/5524
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Watchmaker	Domestic duties
Age	21	26
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Wilsons Bay Pelorus Sounds
Length of Residence	6 years	26 years
Marriage Place	at the Church of St Peter, Havelock
Folio	12/8812
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 August 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev A W C Stace

27 August 1912

William Morrison Lines
Ida Elsie Higgins

William Morrison Lines
Ida Elsie Higgins
💍 1912/8502

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Housekeeper

25
19

Rai Valley
Havelock Suburban

8 weeks
18 years

at the residence of Mr. Sydney Higgins, Havelock Suburban

12/7838

Sydney Higgins, father

27 August 1912

G D Vercoe

No	13
Date of Notice	27 August 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Morrison Lines	Ida Elsie Higgins
	💍 1912/8502
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Housekeeper
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Rai Valley	Havelock Suburban
Length of Residence	8 weeks	18 years
Marriage Place	at the residence of Mr. Sydney Higgins, Havelock Suburban
Folio	12/7838
Consent	Sydney Higgins, father
Date of Certificate	27 August 1912
Officiating Minister	G D Vercoe

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).