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 927

District of Hokitika Quarter ending 31 March 1912 Registrar J. Douglas King

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

15 February 1912

Henry David Robert Harvey
Ida May M'Connon

Henry David Robert Harvey
Ida May McConnon
💍 1912/1716

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician
Domestic

28 years
24 years

Hokitika
Hokitika

14 days
24 years

Church of England, Hokitika

12/1247

15 February 1912

Arthur Hore, Church of England

No	6
Date of Notice	15 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry David Robert Harvey	Ida May M'Connon
BDM Match (97%)	Henry David Robert Harvey	Ida May McConnon
	💍 1912/1716
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician	Domestic
Age	28 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	14 days	24 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Hokitika
Folio	12/1247
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Arthur Hore, Church of England

19 February 1912

Edward James Keogan
Margaret Newton

Edward James Keogan
Margaret Newton
💍 1912/656

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

26 years
23 years

Three Mile
Foy's

26 years
23 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Hokitika

12/255

19 February 1912

Registrar of Marriages

No	7
Date of Notice	19 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward James Keogan	Margaret Newton
	💍 1912/656
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	26 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Three Mile	Foy's
Length of Residence	26 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Hokitika
Folio	12/255
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

1 March 1912

William Albert Woodford
Jane Frances Mycroft

William Albert Woodford
Jane Frances Mycroft
💍 1912/1717

Bachelor
Spinster

Coal Miner
Domestic

20 years
23 years

Woodstock
Woodstock

4 days
23 years

Church of England, Hokitika

12/1248

Edward Spencer Woodford, father

1 March 1912

Arthur Hore, Church of England

No	8
Date of Notice	1 March 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Albert Woodford	Jane Frances Mycroft
	💍 1912/1717
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coal Miner	Domestic
Age	20 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Woodstock	Woodstock
Length of Residence	4 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Hokitika
Folio	12/1248
Consent	Edward Spencer Woodford, father
Date of Certificate	1 March 1912
Officiating Minister	Arthur Hore, Church of England

28 March 1912

Alexander McHaverty
Florence Markey Wallace

Alexander Meharry
Florence Markey Wallace
💍 1912/3819

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

40 years
29 years

Hokitika
Hokitika

30 years
5 years

Presbyterian Church, Hokitika

12/3454

28 March 1912

John Davie, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	28 March 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander McHaverty	Florence Markey Wallace
BDM Match (87%)	Alexander Meharry	Florence Markey Wallace
	💍 1912/3819
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	40 years	29 years
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	30 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Hokitika
Folio	12/3454
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1912
Officiating Minister	John Davie, Presbyterian

29 March 1912

John Shivas
Elizabeth Ellen Graham

John Shivas
Elizabeth Ellen Graham
💍 1912/3820

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Domestic

30 years
22 years

Hokitika
Horterangi

6 days
22 years

Church of England, Horterangi

12/3455

29 March 1912

G. R. Barnett, Church of England

No	10
Date of Notice	29 March 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Shivas	Elizabeth Ellen Graham
	💍 1912/3820
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Domestic
Age	30 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Horterangi
Length of Residence	6 days	22 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Horterangi
Folio	12/3455
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1912
Officiating Minister	G. R. Barnett, Church of England

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).