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 486

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1913 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

6 January 1913

Herman Otto Many
Isabella Jane Young

Herman Otto Manz
Isabella Jane Young
💍 1913/1683

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder

52
34

Wellington
Wellington

15 years
11 years

Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church, Wellington

13/1094

6 January 1913

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	11
Date of Notice	6 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herman Otto Many	Isabella Jane Young
BDM Match (97%)	Herman Otto Manz	Isabella Jane Young
	💍 1913/1683
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder
Age	52	34
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	15 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church, Wellington
Folio	13/1094
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

6 January 1913

Henry Richard Ross
Dorothy Vane Mervie Hearfield

Henry Richard Ross
Dorothy Vane Merril Hearfield
💍 1913/1684

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

18
17

Wellington
Wellington

Life
Life

Presbyterian Manse, Pirie Street, Wellington

13/1096

Harry Ross, Father

6 January 1913

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	12
Date of Notice	6 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Richard Ross	Dorothy Vane Mervie Hearfield
BDM Match (97%)	Henry Richard Ross	Dorothy Vane Merril Hearfield
	💍 1913/1684
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	18	17
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Pirie Street, Wellington
Folio	13/1096
Consent	Harry Ross, Father
Date of Certificate	6 January 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

6 January 1913

Harry Kellaway Parker
Plevna Alice Dowsell

Henry Kellaway Parker
Plevna Alice Dowsett
💍 1913/2042

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

22
20

Wellington
Wellington

12 years
20 years

St. Augustine's Church, Petone

13/1532

John Henry Dowsell, Father

6 January 1913

Rev. G. B. Stephenson

No	13
Date of Notice	6 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Kellaway Parker	Plevna Alice Dowsell
BDM Match (90%)	Henry Kellaway Parker	Plevna Alice Dowsett
	💍 1913/2042
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Petone
Folio	13/1532
Consent	John Henry Dowsell, Father
Date of Certificate	6 January 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Stephenson

6 January 1913

Albert Henry Lane
Florence Altree

Albert Henry Lane
Florence Altree
💍 1913/1612

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinetmaker

31
27

Wellington
Wellington

9 days
6 days

Primitive Methodist Church, Webb Street, Wellington

13/1198

6 January 1913

Rev. W. S. Potter

No	14
Date of Notice	6 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Henry Lane	Florence Altree
	💍 1913/1612
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinetmaker
Age	31	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 days	6 days
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Webb Street, Wellington
Folio	13/1198
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Potter

7 January 1913

James Holford
Ellen Florence Holford

James Holford
Ellen Florence Holford
💍 1913/711

Bachelor
Widow

Ships Stoker

30
36

Wellington
Wellington

9 years
16 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

13/91

7 January 1913

Registrar

No	15
Date of Notice	7 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Holford	Ellen Florence Holford
	💍 1913/711
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Ships Stoker
Age	30	36
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	13/91
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1913
Officiating Minister	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).