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 790

District of Buller Quarter ending 31 March 1912 Registrar Frederick Henry Dodd

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

8 January 1912

James Davies
Evelyn Maud Roberts

James Davies
Evelyn Maude Roberts
💍 1912/1554

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine driver

29
18

Westport
Westport

10 days
18 years

Mr G. Roberts House at corner of Gladstone Street and Queen Street Westport

12/1251

George Christopher Roberts, father

8 January 1912

Rev. John R. Dart

No	1
Date of Notice	8 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Davies	Evelyn Maud Roberts
BDM Match (98%)	James Davies	Evelyn Maude Roberts
	💍 1912/1554
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver
Age	29	18
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	10 days	18 years
Marriage Place	Mr G. Roberts House at corner of Gladstone Street and Queen Street Westport
Folio	12/1251
Consent	George Christopher Roberts, father
Date of Certificate	8 January 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. John R. Dart

17 January 1912

Charles Alfred Goodger
Mary Catherine Rasmussen

Charles Alfred Goodger
Mary Catherine Rasmussen
💍 1912/4278

Bachelor
Spinster

Overseer Public Works
School teacher

43
23

Westport
Westport

3 days
1 month

Residence of J. Menzies Mill St. Westport

12/419

17 January 1912

Rev. Thos. Walshe

No	2
Date of Notice	17 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Alfred Goodger	Mary Catherine Rasmussen
	💍 1912/4278
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Overseer Public Works	School teacher
Age	43	23
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	3 days	1 month
Marriage Place	Residence of J. Menzies Mill St. Westport
Folio	12/419
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. Walshe

23 January 1912

James Tannahill
Ruth Rennie

James Tannahill
Ruth Rennie
💍 1912/667

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic Servant

28
19

Westport
Westport

1 year
19 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages Westport

12/340

George Rennie, father

23 January 1912

A. E. McGregor, Deputy Registrar

No	3
Date of Notice	23 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Tannahill	Ruth Rennie
	💍 1912/667
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic Servant
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	1 year	19 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages Westport
Folio	12/340
Consent	George Rennie, father
Date of Certificate	23 January 1912
Officiating Minister	A. E. McGregor, Deputy Registrar

1 February 1912

Hugh Milton Carruthers
Margaret Holmes

Hugh Milton Carruthers
Margaret Holmes
💍 1912/1572

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Tailoress

22
19

Westport
Westport

3 years
3 years

Residence of Richard Holmes Romilly Street Westport

12/1253

Richard Holmes, father

1 February 1912

Rev. J. R. Dart

No	4
Date of Notice	1 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Milton Carruthers	Margaret Holmes
	💍 1912/1572
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Tailoress
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Richard Holmes Romilly Street Westport
Folio	12/1253
Consent	Richard Holmes, father
Date of Certificate	1 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Dart

2 February 1912

William Warden Goodfellow
Rosa Marion Douthwaite Douthwaite

William Wardin Goodfellow
Rosa Marion Douthwaite
💍 1912/1714

Widower
Spinster

Builder
Domestic duties

42
34

Westport
Westport

4 days
11 days

Residence of Mr. S. Child Romilly Street Westport

12/1245

2 February 1912

Rev. C. B. Jordan

No	5
Date of Notice	2 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Warden Goodfellow	Rosa Marion Douthwaite Douthwaite
BDM Match (81%)	William Wardin Goodfellow	Rosa Marion Douthwaite
	💍 1912/1714
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Domestic duties
Age	42	34
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	4 days	11 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. S. Child Romilly Street Westport
Folio	12/1245
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. B. Jordan

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).