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 349

District of Hamilton Quarter ending 31 March 1913 Registrar James S. Bond

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

10 February 1913

Walter Charles Alfred Bensley
Violet Eliza Jane Harman

Walter Charles Alfred Bentley
Violet Eliza Jane Harman
💍 1913/2643

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Tablet Porter
Dressmaker

26
18

Frankton Junction
Frankton Junction

1 year
7 years

Church of England, Frankton

13/2263

William Harman, the father

10 February 1913

A. Drake

No	16
Date of Notice	10 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Charles Alfred Bensley	Violet Eliza Jane Harman
BDM Match (98%)	Walter Charles Alfred Bentley	Violet Eliza Jane Harman
	💍 1913/2643
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Tablet Porter	Dressmaker
Age	26	18
Dwelling Place	Frankton Junction	Frankton Junction
Length of Residence	1 year	7 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Frankton
Folio	13/2263
Consent	William Harman, the father
Date of Certificate	10 February 1913
Officiating Minister	A. Drake

12 February 1913

Robert Edgar McIntosh
Kathleen Westland Mayes

Robert Edgar McIntosh
Kathleen Westland Mayes
💍 1913/2087

Bachelor
Spinster

Musician
Shop Assistant

22
17

Hamilton
Hamilton

1 year
17 years

Residence of R.J. Hill, Milton Street, Hamilton

13/1503

Mary Caroline Mayes, the guardian

12 February 1913

A. Gow

No	17
Date of Notice	12 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Edgar McIntosh	Kathleen Westland Mayes
	💍 1913/2087
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Musician	Shop Assistant
Age	22	17
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	1 year	17 years
Marriage Place	Residence of R.J. Hill, Milton Street, Hamilton
Folio	13/1503
Consent	Mary Caroline Mayes, the guardian
Date of Certificate	12 February 1913
Officiating Minister	A. Gow

25 February 1913

William Francis Crawford
Bessie Elizabeth French

William Francis Crawford
Bessie Elizabeth French
💍 1913/846

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver
Household Duties

20
21

Hamilton
Hamilton

20 years
2 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Hamilton

13/254

William Crawford, the father

25 February 1913

A.J. Bond

No	18
Date of Notice	25 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Francis Crawford	Bessie Elizabeth French
	💍 1913/846
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver	Household Duties
Age	20	21
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	20 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Hamilton
Folio	13/254
Consent	William Crawford, the father
Date of Certificate	25 February 1913
Officiating Minister	A.J. Bond

3 March 1913

Francis Edward Makin
Jane Walker Hobbs

Francis Edward Makin
Jane Walker Hobbs
💍 1913/1214

Bachelor
Spinster

Jeweller
Domestic Duties

32
29

Hamilton
Hamilton

7 months
3 weeks

House of W. Jenkins, Marama Street, Frankton Junction

13/673

3 March 1913

J. Wrigley

No	19
Date of Notice	3 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Edward Makin	Jane Walker Hobbs
	💍 1913/1214
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jeweller	Domestic Duties
Age	32	29
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	7 months	3 weeks
Marriage Place	House of W. Jenkins, Marama Street, Frankton Junction
Folio	13/673
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1913
Officiating Minister	J. Wrigley

4 March 1913

Chelsea Howard Spiers
Martha Ida Evetts

Chelsea Howard Spiers
Martha Ida Evetts
💍 1913/847

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic Duties

26
21

Hamilton
Hamilton

4 weeks
3 weeks

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Hamilton

13/255

4 March 1913

J.S. Bond

No	20
Date of Notice	4 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Chelsea Howard Spiers	Martha Ida Evetts
	💍 1913/847
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic Duties
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	4 weeks	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Hamilton
Folio	13/255
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1913
Officiating Minister	J.S. Bond

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).