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 369

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 31 December 1913 Registrar Ashworth

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

120

25 October 1913

John Ralph Scholes
Lilian May Smith

John Ralph Scholes
Lilian May Smith
💍 1913/9050

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

33
27

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
27 years

All Saints Anglican Church, Palmerston North

8729

25 October 1913

H. G. Rosher, Anglican

No	120
Date of Notice	25 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ralph Scholes	Lilian May Smith
	💍 1913/9050
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	33	27
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	27 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Anglican Church, Palmerston North
Folio	8729
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 October 1913
Officiating Minister	H. G. Rosher, Anglican

121

25 October 1913

Wilfred Hayward
Victoria May Barker Morton

Wilfred Hayward
Victoria May Barker Morton
💍 1913/9051

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic Duties

20
20

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

4 years
15 years

All Saints Anglican Church, Palmerston North

8730

George Hayward, Father; Emily Jane Morton, Mother

25 October 1913

H. G. Rosher, Anglican

No	121
Date of Notice	25 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilfred Hayward	Victoria May Barker Morton
	💍 1913/9051
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic Duties
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	4 years	15 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Anglican Church, Palmerston North
Folio	8730
Consent	George Hayward, Father; Emily Jane Morton, Mother
Date of Certificate	25 October 1913
Officiating Minister	H. G. Rosher, Anglican

122

28 October 1913

Thomas Holloway
Ruby Spencer Dalton

Thomas Holloway
Ruby Irene Walton
💍 1913/7763

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

30
19

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

9 years
5 years

St Patrick's Roman Catholic, Palmerston North

13/1757

Mary Johns, Mother (formerly Dalton)

28 October 1913

J. J. Kelly, Roman Catholic

No	122
Date of Notice	28 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Holloway	Ruby Spencer Dalton
BDM Match (87%)	Thomas Holloway	Ruby Irene Walton
	💍 1913/7763
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	19
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	9 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St Patrick's Roman Catholic, Palmerston North
Folio	13/1757
Consent	Mary Johns, Mother (formerly Dalton)
Date of Certificate	28 October 1913
Officiating Minister	J. J. Kelly, Roman Catholic

123

28 October 1913

Cyril Smith
Alice Annie Lewis

Cyril Smith
Alice Annie Lewis
💍 1913/9052

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic Duties

20
18

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

10 years
7 years

All Saints Anglican Church, Palmerston North

8731

John Lewis, Father; Bessie Smith, Mother

28 October 1913

H. G. Rosher, Anglican

No	123
Date of Notice	28 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Smith	Alice Annie Lewis
	💍 1913/9052
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic Duties
Age	20	18
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	10 years	7 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Anglican Church, Palmerston North
Folio	8731
Consent	John Lewis, Father; Bessie Smith, Mother
Date of Certificate	28 October 1913
Officiating Minister	H. G. Rosher, Anglican

124

29 October 1913

John Wood
Ivy Selina Wood

John Wood
Ivy Selina Wood
💍 1913/7013

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver
Domestic Duties

34
26

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

18 months
18 months

Registrar's Office, Palmerston North

13/6707

29 October 1913

C. R. Shortt, Registrar

No	124
Date of Notice	29 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Wood	Ivy Selina Wood
	💍 1913/7013
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver	Domestic Duties
Age	34	26
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	18 months	18 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Palmerston North
Folio	13/6707
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 October 1913
Officiating Minister	C. R. Shortt, 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).