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 527

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1913 Registrar Gilbert 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

211

14 March 1913

Hans Jacob Olsen
Lillian Mook

Hans Jacob Olsen
Lillian Mooks
💍 1913/1704

Divorced (Decree absolute 10 July 1906)
Spinster

Grocer

44
37

Wellington
Wellington

24 years
2 years

Residence of Mr Betcke, Main Road, Karori

13/1116

14 March 1913

Rev. W. Shirer

No	211
Date of Notice	14 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hans Jacob Olsen	Lillian Mook
BDM Match (96%)	Hans Jacob Olsen	Lillian Mooks
	💍 1913/1704
Condition	Divorced (Decree absolute 10 July 1906)	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	44	37
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	24 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Betcke, Main Road, Karori
Folio	13/1116
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

212

15 March 1913

John Hannan
Nora Eleanor Allan

John Hannan
Nora Eleanor Allan
💍 1913/884

Bachelor
Widow (November 1912)

Contractor

34
35

Wellington
Wellington

10 years
8 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

13/141

15 March 1913

Deputy Registrar

No	212
Date of Notice	15 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hannan	Nora Eleanor Allan
	💍 1913/884
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (November 1912)
Profession	Contractor
Age	34	35
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	13/141
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

213

15 March 1913

Harold Salisbury Cuming
Edith Drake

Harold Salisbury Cuming
Edith Drake
💍 1913/885

Bachelor
Widow (October 1911)

Cabinetmaker

24
37

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

2 weeks
3 weeks

Registrar's Office, Wellington

13/142

15 March 1913

Deputy Registrar

No	213
Date of Notice	15 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Salisbury Cuming	Edith Drake
	💍 1913/885
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (October 1911)
Profession	Cabinetmaker
Age	24	37
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	2 weeks	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	13/142
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

214

15 March 1913

Edward Dixon
Lora Elsie Evelyn Alexander

Edward Dixon
Lora Elsie Evelyn Alexander
💍 1913/1610

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper's Assistant

32
20

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
20 years

Methodist Manse, Webb Street, Wellington

13/1196

Father

15 March 1913

Rev. W. S. Potter

No	214
Date of Notice	15 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Dixon	Lora Elsie Evelyn Alexander
	💍 1913/1610
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper's Assistant
Age	32	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Manse, Webb Street, Wellington
Folio	13/1196
Consent	Father
Date of Certificate	15 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Potter

215

15 March 1913

Frederick Letherington
Olive Locking

Frederick Hetherington
Olive Hocking
💍 1913/1595

Bachelor
Spinster

French Polisher

30
21

Wellington
Wellington

12 years
9 months

Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington

13/1158

15 March 1913

Rev. J. G. Chapman

No	215
Date of Notice	15 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Letherington	Olive Locking
BDM Match (94%)	Frederick Hetherington	Olive Hocking
	💍 1913/1595
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	French Polisher
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 years	9 months
Marriage Place	Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington
Folio	13/1158
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Chapman

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).