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 654

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1912 Registrar Gilbert Graham Hodghins

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

784

2 October 1912

Thomas Edward Simms
Florence Mary Butler

Thomas Edward Simms
Florence Mary Butler
💍 1912/8289

Bachelor
Spinster

Machinery Expert

36
35

Wellington
Wellington

1 month
34 years

St. Mary & The Angels Church, Boulcott Street, Wellington

12/7247

2 October 1912

Rev. J. Herring

No	784
Date of Notice	2 October 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Edward Simms	Florence Mary Butler
	💍 1912/8289
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Machinery Expert
Age	36	35
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 month	34 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary & The Angels Church, Boulcott Street, Wellington
Folio	12/7247
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Herring

785

2 October 1912

Alfred William Wilton Curtis
Lilian Ethel Wilmor McKenzie

Alfred William Wilton Curtis
Lilian Ethel Wilmor McKenzie
💍 1912/8377

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

42
37

Wellington
Wellington

Life
Life

St. John's Church, Wellington

12/7411

2 October 1912

Rev. J. Paterson

No	785
Date of Notice	2 October 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred William Wilton Curtis	Lilian Ethel Wilmor McKenzie
	💍 1912/8377
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	42	37
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Wellington
Folio	12/7411
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson

786

2 October 1912

John Peter Donnelly
Elsie Fredricka Youngquest

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser

21
19

Wellington
Wellington

10 years
5 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

Rol

Do one resident in Dominion having authority to consent to Brides Marriage

not yet issued 8th 9/1/13

No	786
Date of Notice	2 October 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Peter Donnelly	Elsie Fredricka Youngquest
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	Rol
Consent	Do one resident in Dominion having authority to consent to Brides Marriage
Date of Certificate	not yet issued 8th 9/1/13
Officiating Minister

787

2 October 1912

Alfred Smith Molyneux
Ida Isabella Allan

Alfred Smith Moulynox
Ida Isabella Allan
💍 1912/6947

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

30
25

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
20 years

St. Peter's Church, Wellington

12/7261

2 October 1912

Rev. Arch. C. C. Harper

No	787
Date of Notice	2 October 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Smith Molyneux	Ida Isabella Allan
BDM Match (93%)	Alfred Smith Moulynox	Ida Isabella Allan
	💍 1912/6947
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Wellington
Folio	12/7261
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. Arch. C. C. Harper

788

2 October 1912

Albert Ernest Davies
Angel Manley

Albert Ernest Davies
Angel Manley
💍 1912/5109

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

35
36

Wellington
Wellington

30 years
8 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

12/6595

2 October 1912

Registrar

No	788
Date of Notice	2 October 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Ernest Davies	Angel Manley
	💍 1912/5109
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	35	36
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	30 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	12/6595
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1912
Officiating Minister	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).