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 644

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1913 Registrar Joseph Lissant Palethorpe

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

771

20 October 1913

Thomas Patrick Potter
Maud Mary Minnie Madsen

Thomas Patrick Potter
Maud Mary Minnie Madsen
💍 1913/6762

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
17

Wellington
Wellington

2 weeks
2 weeks

Registrar's office, Wellington

13/6404

Peter Christian Madsen, father

20 October 1913

Deputy Registrar

No	771
Date of Notice	20 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Patrick Potter	Maud Mary Minnie Madsen
	💍 1913/6762
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	17
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 weeks	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's office, Wellington
Folio	13/6404
Consent	Peter Christian Madsen, father
Date of Certificate	20 October 1913
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

772

20 October 1913

Albert Gamble
Olive Shale Hammond

Albert Gamble
Olive Shale Hammond
💍 1913/7555

Bachelor
Spinster

Jeweller

25
28

Wellington
Wellington

9 years
7 years

St. Mark's Church

13/7293

20 October 1913

Rev. G. J. Askew

No	772
Date of Notice	20 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Gamble	Olive Shale Hammond
	💍 1913/7555
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jeweller
Age	25	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church
Folio	13/7293
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. J. Askew

773

20 October 1913

John Samuel Elsmore
Esther Baikie Mackenzie

John Samuel Elsmore
Esther Baikie MacKenzie
💍 1913/7693

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener

33
33

Levin
Pelone

3 months
2 years

Anglican Church, Levin

13/7482

20 October 1913

Rev. H. J. Shealey

No	773
Date of Notice	20 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Samuel Elsmore	Esther Baikie Mackenzie
BDM Match (98%)	John Samuel Elsmore	Esther Baikie MacKenzie
	💍 1913/7693
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener
Age	33	33
Dwelling Place	Levin	Pelone
Length of Residence	3 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Levin
Folio	13/7482
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Shealey

774

20 October 1913

Edwin Bethell Rudge
Susanna Rudge

Edwin Bethell
Susanna Rudge
💍 1913/7649

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

33
33

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
10 days

Wesley Church, Taranaki Street

13/7412

20 October 1913

Rev. G. J. Chapman

No	774
Date of Notice	20 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Bethell Rudge	Susanna Rudge
BDM Match (84%)	Edwin Bethell	Susanna Rudge
	💍 1913/7649
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	33	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	10 days
Marriage Place	Wesley Church, Taranaki Street
Folio	13/7412
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. J. Chapman

775

21 October 1913

John Tracey Kerrigan
Elizabeth Mary Newman

John Tracey Kerrigan
Elizabeth Mary Newman
💍 1913/7619

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

33
35

Wellington
Wellington

12 years
6 years

St. Joseph's Church, Buckle Street, Wellington

13/7358

21 October 1913

Rev. J. M. Barra

No	775
Date of Notice	21 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Tracey Kerrigan	Elizabeth Mary Newman
	💍 1913/7619
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	33	35
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Church, Buckle Street, Wellington
Folio	13/7358
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 October 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Barra

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).