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 584

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1912 Registrar Gilbert Graham Hodgkins

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

450

30 May 1912

Frank Montague Pearn
Olive Barraclough

Frank Montague Pearn
Olive Barraclough
💍 1912/2823

Bachelor
Spinster

Herbalist

29
21

Wellington
Wellington

4 weeks
21 years

St. Hilda's Church, Island Bay, Wellington

12/2577

30 May 1912

Rev. C. W. J. Maclaverty

No	450
Date of Notice	30 May 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Montague Pearn	Olive Barraclough
	💍 1912/2823
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Herbalist
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 weeks	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Hilda's Church, Island Bay, Wellington
Folio	12/2577
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. W. J. Maclaverty

451

30 May 1912

George Robert Grouhard
Naomi Haddon

George Robert Grouhand
Naomi Haddon
💍 1912/2832

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver

19
18

Wellington
Wellington

15 months
life

Residence of Mr W. Haddon, 8 St. Mary St., Wellington

12/2580

George Grouhard, Father; W. Haddon, Father

30 May 1912

Rev. P. J. Cossum

No	451
Date of Notice	30 May 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Robert Grouhard	Naomi Haddon
BDM Match (98%)	George Robert Grouhand	Naomi Haddon
	💍 1912/2832
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver
Age	19	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	15 months	life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr W. Haddon, 8 St. Mary St., Wellington
Folio	12/2580
Consent	George Grouhard, Father; W. Haddon, Father
Date of Certificate	30 May 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cossum

452

30 May 1912

Frederick William Larren
Annie Elsie Peters

Frederick William Larsen
Annie Elsie Peters
💍 1912/2652

Widower
Spinster

Plumber

38
27

Wellington
Wellington

5 days
1 1/2 days

Kent Terrace Church, Manse Pirie Street, Wellington

12/2471

30 May 1912

Rev. H. Beggs

No	452
Date of Notice	30 May 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Larren	Annie Elsie Peters
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick William Larsen	Annie Elsie Peters
	💍 1912/2652
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	38	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 days	1 1/2 days
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Church, Manse Pirie Street, Wellington
Folio	12/2471
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Beggs

453

30 May 1912

James Morton Davidson
Rhoda Randall Irving

James Norton Davidson
Rhoda Randall Irving
💍 1912/4178

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

26
21

Petone
Petone

3 years
2 years

Residence of Mrs. Cooper, 18 Aurora Street, Petone

12/4044

30 May 1912

Rev. A. Thomson

No	453
Date of Notice	30 May 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Morton Davidson	Rhoda Randall Irving
BDM Match (98%)	James Norton Davidson	Rhoda Randall Irving
	💍 1912/4178
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Cooper, 18 Aurora Street, Petone
Folio	12/4044
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Thomson

454

31 May 1912

Frederick Joseph O'Leary
Margaret McRail

Frederick Joseph OLeary
Margaret McGrail
💍 1912/4409

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

33
32

Wellington
Wellington

9 months
2 years

St. Anne's Roman Catholic Church, Wellington South

12/4001

31 May 1912

Rev. Thomas Devoy

No	454
Date of Notice	31 May 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Joseph O'Leary	Margaret McRail
BDM Match (92%)	Frederick Joseph OLeary	Margaret McGrail
	💍 1912/4409
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	33	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 months	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Anne's Roman Catholic Church, Wellington South
Folio	12/4001
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Devoy

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).