Intentions to Marry, 1913 Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840452, 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 203

District of Ketahuna Quarter ending 31 March 1913 Registrar M. Nicholas

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

4 January 1913

Donald Cameron Fisher
Ellen Cameron Foster

Donald Campbell Fisher
Ellen Cameron
💍 1913/4811

Bachelor
Widow

Shepherd
Boarding House Keeper

30
33

Ketahuna
Ketahuna

3 days
15 months

In the residence of Ellen Cameron Ketahuna

13/431

4 January 1913

Rev. J. S. Young

No	1
Date of Notice	4 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Cameron Fisher	Ellen Cameron Foster
BDM Match (71%)	Donald Campbell Fisher	Ellen Cameron
	💍 1913/4811
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Shepherd	Boarding House Keeper
Age	30	33
Dwelling Place	Ketahuna	Ketahuna
Length of Residence	3 days	15 months
Marriage Place	In the residence of Ellen Cameron Ketahuna
Folio	13/431
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. S. Young

14 January 1913

Edward Maud Gaisford
Rita Ernard Kessell

Edward Claud Gaisford
Rita Ernard Kebbell
💍 1913/1400

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Home Duties

21
27

Ketahuna
Reefton

3 days
2 years

In the Anglican Church Reefton

13/911

14 January 1913

Rev. Carson B. H. Luke

No	2
Date of Notice	14 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Maud Gaisford	Rita Ernard Kessell
BDM Match (90%)	Edward Claud Gaisford	Rita Ernard Kebbell
	💍 1913/1400
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Home Duties
Age	21	27
Dwelling Place	Ketahuna	Reefton
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	In the Anglican Church Reefton
Folio	13/911
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Carson B. H. Luke

4 February 1913

Eugene Breen
Mary Ann Hangford-Davis

Eugene Breen
Mary Ann Stanford Davis
💍 1913/4547

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter
Domestic

25
28

Ketahuna
Reefton

3 days
14 days

In the Roman Catholic Church Ketahuna

13/412

4 February 1913

Rev. Dean F. McKenna

No	3
Date of Notice	4 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eugene Breen	Mary Ann Hangford-Davis
BDM Match (91%)	Eugene Breen	Mary Ann Stanford Davis
	💍 1913/4547
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter	Domestic
Age	25	28
Dwelling Place	Ketahuna	Reefton
Length of Residence	3 days	14 days
Marriage Place	In the Roman Catholic Church Ketahuna
Folio	13/412
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dean F. McKenna

8 February 1913

Arthur Henry D'Hasty
Annie Orr Spencer

Arthur Henry D'Harty
Annie Orr
💍 1913/905

Bachelor
Spinster

Surveyor N.Z.P.S.
Home Duties

34
24

Ketahuna
Ketahuna

3 years
3 days

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Ketahuna

13/312

8 February 1913

J. W. Tregunna, Registrar

No	4
Date of Notice	8 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Henry D'Hasty	Annie Orr Spencer
BDM Match (74%)	Arthur Henry D'Harty	Annie Orr
	💍 1913/905
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surveyor N.Z.P.S.	Home Duties
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Ketahuna	Ketahuna
Length of Residence	3 years	3 days
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Ketahuna
Folio	13/312
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1913
Officiating Minister	J. W. Tregunna, Registrar

21 February 1913

Thomas Clement Henne
Agnes Morris Pascoe

Thomas Clement Denne
Agnes Morris
💍 1913/1399

Bachelor
Spinster

Wool Manufacturer
Home Duties

31
24

Ketahuna
Ketahuna

12 months
2 years

In the residence of John Morris Ketahuna

13/910

21 February 1913

William Henry Pascoe

No	5
Date of Notice	21 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Clement Henne	Agnes Morris Pascoe
BDM Match (79%)	Thomas Clement Denne	Agnes Morris
	💍 1913/1399
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wool Manufacturer	Home Duties
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Ketahuna	Ketahuna
Length of Residence	12 months	2 years
Marriage Place	In the residence of John Morris Ketahuna
Folio	13/910
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1913
Officiating Minister	William Henry Pascoe

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).