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 879

District of Reefton Quarter ending 30 June 1912 Registrar Henry Smith

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

3 April 1912

Thomas Searight Patterson
Isabelle Park Moonie

Thomas Searight Patterson
Isabella Park Moonie
💍 1912/3711

Bachelor
Spinster

Shop assistant
Domestic duties

26
22

Reefton
Reefton

2 1/2 years
10 years

Presbyterian Church, Reefton

12/3569

3 April 1912

Rev. Robert Stewart, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	3 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Searight Patterson	Isabelle Park Moonie
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Searight Patterson	Isabella Park Moonie
	💍 1912/3711
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shop assistant	Domestic duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Reefton
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Reefton
Folio	12/3569
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert Stewart, Presbyterian

12 April 1912

Lance Lester William Heaphy
Annie Welch

Lance Lester William Heaphy
Annie Welch
💍 1912/4137

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Waitress

22
21

Reefton
Reefton

4 days
6 days

Roman Catholic Church, Reefton

12/3976

12 April 1912

Rev. A. Galerne, Roman Catholic

No	10
Date of Notice	12 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lance Lester William Heaphy	Annie Welch
	💍 1912/4137
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Waitress
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Reefton
Length of Residence	4 days	6 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Reefton
Folio	12/3976
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 April 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Galerne, Roman Catholic

17 April 1912

Sidney Fisher Berndtson
Ellen Heslop

Sidney Fisher Berndtson
Ellen Heslop
💍 1912/4136

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk
Clerk

31
31

Reefton
Reefton

6 1/2 years
3 1/2 years

The Residence of J. G. Heslop, Church Street, Reefton

12/3975

17 April 1912

Rev. A. Galerne, Roman Catholic

No	11
Date of Notice	17 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney Fisher Berndtson	Ellen Heslop
	💍 1912/4136
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk	Clerk
Age	31	31
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Reefton
Length of Residence	6 1/2 years	3 1/2 years
Marriage Place	The Residence of J. G. Heslop, Church Street, Reefton
Folio	12/3975
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 April 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Galerne, Roman Catholic

20 April 1912

Thomas Williams
Beatrice Louisa Hocking

Thomas Williams
Beatrice Louisa Hocking
💍 1912/7926

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic duties

28
24

Black's Point
Black's Point

28 years
24 years

Methodist Church, Black's Point

12/6258

20 April 1912

Rev. R. Wilson, Methodist

No	12
Date of Notice	20 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Williams	Beatrice Louisa Hocking
	💍 1912/7926
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic duties
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Black's Point	Black's Point
Length of Residence	28 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Black's Point
Folio	12/6258
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 April 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Wilson, Methodist

27 April 1912

Lancelot Dawson
Mary Ann Clarke

Lancelot Dawson
Mary Ann Clarke
💍 1912/2560

Bachelor
Widow

Miner
Domestic duties

37
42

Reefton
Reefton

5 years
5 years

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Reefton

12/2379

27 April 1912

Henry Smith, Registrar

No	13
Date of Notice	27 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lancelot Dawson	Mary Ann Clarke
	💍 1912/2560
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	37	42
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Reefton
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Reefton
Folio	12/2379
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 April 1912
Officiating Minister	Henry Smith, Registrar

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).