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 516

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1913 Registrar Graham Hodghins

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

161

3 March 1913

Robert Fairbairn
Jessie Maria Whitaker

Robert Fairbairn
Jessie Maria Whitaker
💍 1913/1571

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

36
28

Wellington
Wellington

1 year
20 years

7 Kent Terrace, Presbyterian Manse, 35 Pirie Street, Wellington

13/1150

3 March 1913

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	161
Date of Notice	3 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Fairbairn	Jessie Maria Whitaker
	💍 1913/1571
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	36	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	20 years
Marriage Place	7 Kent Terrace, Presbyterian Manse, 35 Pirie Street, Wellington
Folio	13/1150
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

162

4 March 1913

Eric Ossion Johnson
Amy Elizabeth Osborne

Eric Ossion Johnson
Amy Elizabeth Osborne
💍 1913/1743

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

29
31

Wellington
Island Bay

7 years
20 years

Residence of Mrs. Osborne, The Parade, Island Bay, Wellington

13/1207

4 March 1913

Rev. W. H. Hinton

No	162
Date of Notice	4 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric Ossion Johnson	Amy Elizabeth Osborne
	💍 1913/1743
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	29	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Island Bay
Length of Residence	7 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Osborne, The Parade, Island Bay, Wellington
Folio	13/1207
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Hinton

163

4 March 1913

Robert Gilbert Broad
Frances Laura Marshall

Robert Gilbert Broad
Frances Laura Marshall
💍 1913/1608

Bachelor
Spinster

Sugar Boiler

25
22

Paia
Newlands

3 months
22 years

Residence of Mr. J. Allison, Newlands, Johnsonville

13/1194

4 March 1913

Rev. S. H. Perryman

No	163
Date of Notice	4 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Gilbert Broad	Frances Laura Marshall
	💍 1913/1608
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sugar Boiler
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Paia	Newlands
Length of Residence	3 months	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. Allison, Newlands, Johnsonville
Folio	13/1194
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. H. Perryman

164

4 March 1913

Daniel Ignatius McNamara
Margaret McGrath

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

34
34

Wellington
Wellington

10 years
6 years

St. Joseph's Church, Buckle Street, Wellington

Not Rec'd, See attached

4 March 1913

Rev. A. H. Hurley

No	164
Date of Notice	4 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Ignatius McNamara	Margaret McGrath
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	34	34
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Church, Buckle Street, Wellington
Folio	Not Rec'd, See attached
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Hurley

165

4 March 1913

Matthew Henry Oram
Margarette Ann Florence Johnson

Matthew Henry Oram
Margarette Ann Florence Johnson
💍 1913/1726

Bachelor
Spinster

Barrister & Solicitor

27
22

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
22 years

St. John's Church, Wellington

13/1214

4 March 1913

Rev. J. Gibb

No	165
Date of Notice	4 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew Henry Oram	Margarette Ann Florence Johnson
	💍 1913/1726
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barrister & Solicitor
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Wellington
Folio	13/1214
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb

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).