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 798

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

31 A

5 August 1912

Joseph Alexander Shaw
Helen Brownlee Currie

Josephia Alexander Shaw
Helen Brownlee Currie
💍 1912/5774

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine driver
Domestic

31
26

Westport
Westport

5 days
Since birth

John Currie's Private residence Esplanade Westport

12/4988

5 August 1912

Rev. J. T. Burrows

No	31 A
Date of Notice	5 August 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Alexander Shaw	Helen Brownlee Currie
BDM Match (96%)	Josephia Alexander Shaw	Helen Brownlee Currie
	💍 1912/5774
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver	Domestic
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	5 days	Since birth
Marriage Place	John Currie's Private residence Esplanade Westport
Folio	12/4988
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 August 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. T. Burrows

9 August 1912

Fritz Kjoss
Clara Ann Mallet

Fritz Kjoss
Clara Anne Mallett
💍 1912/5777

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Cook

28
24

Westport
Westport

7 years
24 years

St Johns Church Queen Street Westport

12/4991

9 August 1912

Rev. J. R. Dart

No	32
Date of Notice	9 August 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fritz Kjoss	Clara Ann Mallet
BDM Match (94%)	Fritz Kjoss	Clara Anne Mallett
	💍 1912/5777
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Cook
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	7 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St Johns Church Queen Street Westport
Folio	12/4991
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 August 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Dart

19 August 1912

Edward William Percival Lintern
Elsie Marion Hooker

Edward William Percival Lintern
Elsie Marion Hooker
💍 1912/5779

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic

22
20

Westport
Westport

4 days
12 months

Mrs Browning Private residence 50 Peel Street Westport

12/4993

Albert James Hooker Father

19 August 1912

Rev. C. A. Sims

No	33
Date of Notice	19 August 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward William Percival Lintern	Elsie Marion Hooker
	💍 1912/5779
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	4 days	12 months
Marriage Place	Mrs Browning Private residence 50 Peel Street Westport
Folio	12/4993
Consent	Albert James Hooker Father
Date of Certificate	19 August 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Sims

4 September 1912

William James Regan
Rubina Rodger

William James Ryan
Rubina Rodger
💍 1912/6551

Bachelor
Spinster

Slatelayer
Domestic

25
20

Westport
Westport

Since birth
4 weeks

P Regan's Albion Hotel Westport

12/6469

Norman Rodger Father

4 September 1912

Rev. J. J. McMenamin

No	34
Date of Notice	4 September 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Regan	Rubina Rodger
BDM Match (95%)	William James Ryan	Rubina Rodger
	💍 1912/6551
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slatelayer	Domestic
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	Since birth	4 weeks
Marriage Place	P Regan's Albion Hotel Westport
Folio	12/6469
Consent	Norman Rodger Father
Date of Certificate	4 September 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. McMenamin

7 September 1912

Sydney Oliver Hughes
Ruby Myrtle Johnson

Sydney Oliver Hughes
Ruby Myrtle Johnson
💍 1912/7269

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic

22
16

Westport
Westport

12 months
12 months

Private residence Mrs Johnson Lindo Street Westport

12/7889

Mary Johnson Mother

7 September 1912

Rev. J. R. Dart

No	35
Date of Notice	7 September 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Oliver Hughes	Ruby Myrtle Johnson
	💍 1912/7269
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic
Age	22	16
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	12 months	12 months
Marriage Place	Private residence Mrs Johnson Lindo Street Westport
Folio	12/7889
Consent	Mary Johnson Mother
Date of Certificate	7 September 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Dart

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).