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 739

District of Picton Quarter ending 30 September 1912 Registrar John George Beswick

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

4 July 1912

John James Hebley
Alma Victoria Olsson

John James Hebley
Alma Victoria Olsson
💍 1912/5937

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Housemaid

25
18

Picton
Picton

18 years
3 weeks

In the Anglican Church, Picton

12/4975

Victor Olsson, Father

4 July 1912

Rev. T. J. Smith, Anglican

No	32
Date of Notice	4 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John James Hebley	Alma Victoria Olsson
	💍 1912/5937
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Housemaid
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Picton	Picton
Length of Residence	18 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	In the Anglican Church, Picton
Folio	12/4975
Consent	Victor Olsson, Father
Date of Certificate	4 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. J. Smith, Anglican

10 July 1912

Edward Tennyson Greensill
Lucy France

Edward Tennyson Greensill
Lucy France
💍 1912/5938

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Domestic

21
35

Picton
Picton

21 years
2 months

Holy Trinity (Anglican) Church, Picton

12/4976

10 July 1912

Rev. T. J. Smith, Anglican

No	33
Date of Notice	10 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Tennyson Greensill	Lucy France
	💍 1912/5938
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Domestic
Age	21	35
Dwelling Place	Picton	Picton
Length of Residence	21 years	2 months
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity (Anglican) Church, Picton
Folio	12/4976
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. J. Smith, Anglican

12 July 1912

William Arthur Bowler
Dorcas May Dryden

William Arthur Bowler
Dorcas May Dryden
💍 1912/5935

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

34
24

Picton
Picton

7 years
24 years

In the dwelling of Arthur Dryden, Picton

12/4973

12 July 1912

Rev. C. C. Bottomley, Wesleyan

No	34
Date of Notice	12 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Arthur Bowler	Dorcas May Dryden
	💍 1912/5935
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Picton	Picton
Length of Residence	7 years	24 years
Marriage Place	In the dwelling of Arthur Dryden, Picton
Folio	12/4973
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. C. Bottomley, Wesleyan

21 September 1912

Whalton Campbell McAlpine
Elsie Eveleen Jean Henderson

Whalton Campbell McAlpine
Elsie Evelyn Jean Henderson
💍 1912/5786

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

21
21

Waitaria, Pelorus Sound
Waitaria, Pelorus Sound

7 years
21 years

In the dwelling of John Daniel Henderson, Waitaria Bay, Pelorus Sound

12/4999

21 September 1912

Rev. T. J. Smith, Anglican

No	36
Date of Notice	21 September 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Whalton Campbell McAlpine	Elsie Eveleen Jean Henderson
BDM Match (96%)	Whalton Campbell McAlpine	Elsie Evelyn Jean Henderson
	💍 1912/5786
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Waitaria, Pelorus Sound	Waitaria, Pelorus Sound
Length of Residence	7 years	21 years
Marriage Place	In the dwelling of John Daniel Henderson, Waitaria Bay, Pelorus Sound
Folio	12/4999
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 September 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. J. Smith, Anglican

23 September 1912

Roland Fitzgerald Chapman
Dorothy Ada Steele

Roland Fitzgerald Chapman
Dorothy Ada Steele
💍 1912/5785

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Bridge Man
Domestic

25
24

Picton
Picton

2 years
2 1/2 years

Holy Trinity Church, Picton

12/4998

23 September 1912

Rev. T. J. Smith, Anglican

No	37
Date of Notice	23 September 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roland Fitzgerald Chapman	Dorothy Ada Steele
	💍 1912/5785
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Bridge Man	Domestic
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Picton	Picton
Length of Residence	2 years	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Picton
Folio	12/4998
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 September 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. J. Smith, Anglican

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).