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 860

District of Reefton Quarter ending 30 June 1913 Registrar Henry Smith

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

9 April 1913

David Joseph Leahy
Jane Catherine Molloy

David Joseph Leahy
Jane Catherine Molloy
💍 1913/6573

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee
Dressmaker

31
30

Wellington
Reefton

1 week
20 years

Roman Catholic Church, Reefton

13/6209

9 April 1913

Rev. A. Galerne

No	5
Date of Notice	9 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Joseph Leahy	Jane Catherine Molloy
	💍 1913/6573
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee	Dressmaker
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Reefton
Length of Residence	1 week	20 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Reefton
Folio	13/6209
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Galerne

10 April 1913

Henry John Louis Walsleban
Amelia Wills

Henry John Louis Walsleben
Amelia Wills
💍 1913/6667

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Saleswoman

34
34

Reefton
Reefton

34 years
34 years

The residence of Mr. James Wills, Buller Road, Reefton

13/6382

10 April 1913

Rev. F. Quintrell, Rev. Parker, Minister in charge C of E Reefton

No	6
Date of Notice	10 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry John Louis Walsleban	Amelia Wills
BDM Match (98%)	Henry John Louis Walsleben	Amelia Wills
	💍 1913/6667
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Saleswoman
Age	34	34
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Reefton
Length of Residence	34 years	34 years
Marriage Place	The residence of Mr. James Wills, Buller Road, Reefton
Folio	13/6382
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 April 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Quintrell, Rev. Parker, Minister in charge C of E Reefton

28 May 1913

Garrett Brazil
Mary Ann Hampson

Garrett Brazil
Mary Ann Hampson
💍 1913/6570

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

26
27

Cronadun
Grey Road, Reefton

26 years
27 years

Roman Catholic Church, Reefton

13/6206

28 April 1913

Rev. A. Galerne

No	7
Date of Notice	28 May 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Garrett Brazil	Mary Ann Hampson
	💍 1913/6570
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Cronadun	Grey Road, Reefton
Length of Residence	26 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Reefton
Folio	13/6206
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Galerne

11 June 1913

Thomas Minotti
Catherine Carroll

Thomas Minotte
Catherine Carroll
💍 1913/6572

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

27
17

Reefton
Reefton

4 days
2 months

Roman Catholic Church, Reefton

13/6208

John Carroll (Father)

11 June 1913

Rev. A. Galerne

No	8
Date of Notice	11 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Minotti	Catherine Carroll
BDM Match (96%)	Thomas Minotte	Catherine Carroll
	💍 1913/6572
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	27	17
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Reefton
Length of Residence	4 days	2 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Reefton
Folio	13/6208
Consent	John Carroll (Father)
Date of Certificate	11 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Galerne

16 June 1913

Alphonsus O'Donnell
Catherine Kirwan

Alphonsus O'Donnell
Catherine Kirwan
💍 1913/6571

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

23
21

Reefton
Reefton

2 1/2 years
21 years

Roman Catholic Church, Reefton

13/6207

16 June 1913

Rev. A. Galerne

No	9
Date of Notice	16 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alphonsus O'Donnell	Catherine Kirwan
	💍 1913/6571
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Reefton
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Reefton
Folio	13/6207
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Galerne

17 June 1913

Tasker Edward Kennedy
Christiana McTaggart

Tasker Edward Kennedy
Christina McTaggart
💍 1913/4793

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

26
21

Reefton
Runanga

6 years
1 week

The residence of Robert McTaggart, Runanga

13/4377

17 June 1913

Mr. Moses Ayrton

No	10
Date of Notice	17 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Tasker Edward Kennedy	Christiana McTaggart
BDM Match (98%)	Tasker Edward Kennedy	Christina McTaggart
	💍 1913/4793
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Runanga
Length of Residence	6 years	1 week
Marriage Place	The residence of Robert McTaggart, Runanga
Folio	13/4377
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Mr. Moses Ayrton

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).