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 797

District of Buller Quarter ending 30 September 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

1 July 1912

Marshall Bolt
Winifred Ann Fee

Marshall Bolt
Winifred Ann Lee
💍 1912/5776

Bachelor
Widow

Miner
Domestic

35
32

Burnetts Face
Westport

3 months
9 weeks

Church of England, Westport

12/4990

1 July 1912

Rev. J. R. Dart

No	27
Date of Notice	1 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Marshall Bolt	Winifred Ann Fee
BDM Match (97%)	Marshall Bolt	Winifred Ann Lee
	💍 1912/5776
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	35	32
Dwelling Place	Burnetts Face	Westport
Length of Residence	3 months	9 weeks
Marriage Place	Church of England, Westport
Folio	12/4990
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Dart

15 July 1912

Edward Westport Jones
Winifred Iris Bentley

Edward Westport Jones
Winifred Iris Bentley
💍 1912/5772

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic

29
20

Westport
Westport

Since birth
14 years

Mr S. Snow's Private Residence, Brougham Street, Westport

12/4986

James Bentley, father

15 July 1912

Rev. E. Cox

No	28
Date of Notice	15 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Westport Jones	Winifred Iris Bentley
	💍 1912/5772
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	Since birth	14 years
Marriage Place	Mr S. Snow's Private Residence, Brougham Street, Westport
Folio	12/4986
Consent	James Bentley, father
Date of Certificate	15 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Cox

22 July 1912

Henry Mann
Annie Higgins

Henry Mann
Annie Higgins
💍 1912/6550

Widower
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic

37
33

Westport
Westport

10 years
3 years

Catholic Presbytery, Westport

12/6468

22 July 1912

Rev. J. J. McMenamin

No	29
Date of Notice	22 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Mann	Annie Higgins
	💍 1912/6550
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic
Age	37	33
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	10 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Presbytery, Westport
Folio	12/6468
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. McMenamin

31 July 1912

William Herbert Edwards
Katherine Victoria Mary Winwood

William Herbert Edwards
Catherine Victoria May Winwood
💍 1912/6549

Bachelor
Spinster

Boilermaker
Mantlemaker

32
31

Westport
Westport

2 years
14 days

Roman Catholic Church, Westport

12/6467

31 July 1912

Rev. J. Walshe

No	30
Date of Notice	31 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Herbert Edwards	Katherine Victoria Mary Winwood
BDM Match (97%)	William Herbert Edwards	Catherine Victoria May Winwood
	💍 1912/6549
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boilermaker	Mantlemaker
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	2 years	14 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Westport
Folio	12/6467
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Walshe

5 August 1912

Herbert Curnow
Violet Lowell

Herbert Curnow
Violet Powell
💍 1912/5773

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

27
18

Westport
Westport

2 years
Since birth

Mrs Hudson's Private Residence, Redstone Street, Westport

12/4984

Rose Hudson, mother

5 August 1912

Rev. J. J. Burrows

No	31
Date of Notice	5 August 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Curnow	Violet Lowell
BDM Match (96%)	Herbert Curnow	Violet Powell
	💍 1912/5773
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	27	18
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	2 years	Since birth
Marriage Place	Mrs Hudson's Private Residence, Redstone Street, Westport
Folio	12/4984
Consent	Rose Hudson, mother
Date of Certificate	5 August 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Burrows

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).