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 862

District of Reefton Quarter ending 30 September 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

28 July 1913

Herbert William Cockerill
Lucy Derry

Herbert William Cockerill
Lucy Ourry
💍 1913/5933

Bachelor
Spinster

Dredge-hand
Domestic duties

29
29

Cronadun
Blackwater

5 years
3 days

Presbyterian Church, Reefton

13/5666

28 July 1913

Rev. J. A. Brown

No	11
Date of Notice	28 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert William Cockerill	Lucy Derry
BDM Match (90%)	Herbert William Cockerill	Lucy Ourry
	💍 1913/5933
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dredge-hand	Domestic duties
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Cronadun	Blackwater
Length of Residence	5 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Reefton
Folio	13/5666
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Brown

29 July 1913

Edward Schwass
Emma Elizabeth Ross

Edward Schwass
Emma Elizabeth Ross
💍 1913/5934

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

34
21

Inangahua Landing
Inangahua Landing

16 years
8 years

The Residence of Mr. John Ross, Inangahua Landing

13/5667

29 July 1913

Rev. J. A. Brown

No	12
Date of Notice	29 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Schwass	Emma Elizabeth Ross
	💍 1913/5934
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	34	21
Dwelling Place	Inangahua Landing	Inangahua Landing
Length of Residence	16 years	8 years
Marriage Place	The Residence of Mr. John Ross, Inangahua Landing
Folio	13/5667
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Brown

18 August 1913

Alfred Walker
Elizabeth Sinclair

Alfred Walker
Elizabeth Sinclair
💍 1913/8669

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

33
35

Capleston
Cronadun

33 years
2 1/2 years

The Residence of Mr. Robt. Hopcroft, Cronadun

13/8524

18 August 1913

Rev. E. A. Parker

No	13
Date of Notice	18 August 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Walker	Elizabeth Sinclair
	💍 1913/8669
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	33	35
Dwelling Place	Capleston	Cronadun
Length of Residence	33 years	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	The Residence of Mr. Robt. Hopcroft, Cronadun
Folio	13/8524
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 August 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. A. Parker

26 August 1913

Horace John Jackson
Catherine Prendergast

Horace John Jackson
Catherine Prendergast
💍 1913/5797

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Servant
Domestic duties

24
25

Manahia
Waipuna

3 days
3 days

Roman Catholic Church, Reefton

13/5529

26 August 1913

Rev. A. Galerne

No	14
Date of Notice	26 August 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horace John Jackson	Catherine Prendergast
	💍 1913/5797
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Servant	Domestic duties
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Manahia	Waipuna
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Reefton
Folio	13/5529
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 August 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Galerne

17 September 1913

Bert Baker
Florence Alice Lines

Bert Baker
Florence Alice Lines
💍 1913/8689

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

29
26

Buller Road
Buller Road

6 months
26 years

Residence of Mr. Job Lines, White Cliffs, Buller Road

13/8525

17 September 1913

Rev. E. A. Parker

No	15
Date of Notice	17 September 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bert Baker	Florence Alice Lines
	💍 1913/8689
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Buller Road	Buller Road
Length of Residence	6 months	26 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Job Lines, White Cliffs, Buller Road
Folio	13/8525
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 September 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. A. Parker

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).