Intentions to Marry, 1913 Auckland, Taranaki

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840451, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1913 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki (1913a), Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1913b), and Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands (1913c).

Page 691

District of Te Aroha Quarter ending 30 June 1913 Registrar John Hollygord

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 1913

James Track
Clara Vissilless

James Mack
Clara Vissilless
💍 1913/323

Bachelor
Widow

Miner
Boarding House Keeper

41
50

Te Aroha
Te Aroha

3 years
3 years

Private residence of Mrs Clara Vissilless, Te Aroha

13/731

3 April 1913

Rev. W. L. Blair, Presbyterian

No	7
Date of Notice	3 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Track	Clara Vissilless
BDM Match (91%)	James Mack	Clara Vissilless
	💍 1913/323
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Miner	Boarding House Keeper
Age	41	50
Dwelling Place	Te Aroha	Te Aroha
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Private residence of Mrs Clara Vissilless, Te Aroha
Folio	13/731
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. L. Blair, Presbyterian

21 April 1913

Norman Benjamin Garland
Ellen Sinclair

Norman Benjamin Garland
Ellen Sinclair
💍 1913/4578

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

24
20

Turangaomoana
Vhania

8 years
3 years

Private residence of Mrs Maria Sinclair, Vhania

13/431

21 April 1913

Rev. J. C. Russell, Church of England

No	8
Date of Notice	21 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Benjamin Garland	Ellen Sinclair
	💍 1913/4578
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Turangaomoana	Vhania
Length of Residence	8 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Private residence of Mrs Maria Sinclair, Vhania
Folio	13/431
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 April 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Russell, Church of England

28 April 1913

Francis Otto Inglis
Margaret Douglas Smailes

Francis Otto Inglis
Margaret Douglas
💍 1913/3107

Bachelor
Spinster

Physician
Household duties

30
24

Te Aroha
Te Aroha

8 months
3 days

Anglican Church, Te Aroha

13/2928

28 April 1913

Rev. G. Wells Smailes, Church of England

No	9
Date of Notice	28 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Otto Inglis	Margaret Douglas Smailes
BDM Match (83%)	Francis Otto Inglis	Margaret Douglas
	💍 1913/3107
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Physician	Household duties
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Te Aroha	Te Aroha
Length of Residence	8 months	3 days
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Te Aroha
Folio	13/2928
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Wells Smailes, Church of England

28 May 1913

George Bellamy Horn
Eliza Jessamine Horn

George Bellamy
Eliza Jessamine Horn
💍 1913/619

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

25
26

Tauwhare
East-Port-Rd.

8 years
9 years

Methodist School

13/2924

28 May 1913

Rev. P. R. Paris, Methodist

No	10
Date of Notice	28 May 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Bellamy Horn	Eliza Jessamine Horn
BDM Match (87%)	George Bellamy	Eliza Jessamine Horn
	💍 1913/619
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Tauwhare	East-Port-Rd.
Length of Residence	8 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Methodist School
Folio	13/2924
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. R. Paris, Methodist

4 June 1913

Horace Harold Wood
Violet May Mills

Horace Harold Wood
Violet May Mills
💍 1913/620

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic Servant

23
18

Taumarunui
Waikino

6 years
10 years

Private residence of John Wood, Woodlands, Te Aroha

13/2925

John Wood, Father

4 June 1913

Rev. P. R. Paris, Methodist

No	11
Date of Notice	4 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horace Harold Wood	Violet May Mills
	💍 1913/620
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic Servant
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Taumarunui	Waikino
Length of Residence	6 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Private residence of John Wood, Woodlands, Te Aroha
Folio	13/2925
Consent	John Wood, Father
Date of Certificate	4 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. R. Paris, Methodist

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).