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 901

District of Grey Quarter ending 30 June 1913 Registrar Benjamin Harper

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

21 April 1913

Alexander Donald Smith
Annie Gordon Melvin

Alexander Donald Smith
Annie Gordon Melvin
💍 1913/6342

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller
Domestic

26
30

Greymouth
Greymouth

3 years
2 weeks

Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth

13/6103

21 April 1913

Venerable G. W. York

No	29
Date of Notice	21 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Donald Smith	Annie Gordon Melvin
	💍 1913/6342
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller	Domestic
Age	26	30
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 years	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth
Folio	13/6103
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 April 1913
Officiating Minister	Venerable G. W. York

21 April 1913

John Ernest Sims
Winifred Ellen Haddock

John Ernest Sims
Winefrede Ellen Haddock
💍 1913/4670

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

34
26

Greymouth, (from Moonlight)
Greymouth, (from Hokitika)

4 days; 2 yrs 4 days
4 days; 26 yrs

St. Patrick's Church, Greymouth

13/4272

21 April 1913

Very Rev. Dean P. Carew

No	30
Date of Notice	21 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ernest Sims	Winifred Ellen Haddock
BDM Match (96%)	John Ernest Sims	Winefrede Ellen Haddock
	💍 1913/4670
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	34	26
Dwelling Place	Greymouth, (from Moonlight)	Greymouth, (from Hokitika)
Length of Residence	4 days; 2 yrs 4 days	4 days; 26 yrs
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Greymouth
Folio	13/4272
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 April 1913
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean P. Carew

21 April 1913

George Anderson
Ethel Grogan

George Anderson
Ethel Grogan
💍 1913/4671

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor
Clerk

28
29

Greymouth
Greymouth

28 years
29 years

The Residence of Mr. P. Grogan, Chapel St., Greymouth

13/4273

21 April 1913

Very Rev. Dean D. P. Carew

No	31
Date of Notice	21 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Anderson	Ethel Grogan
	💍 1913/4671
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor	Clerk
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	28 years	29 years
Marriage Place	The Residence of Mr. P. Grogan, Chapel St., Greymouth
Folio	13/4273
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 April 1913
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean D. P. Carew

28 April 1913

Frederick Norman Parker
Georgina Marion Turner

Frederick Norman Parker
Georgina Marion Turner
💍 1913/6343

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawyer
School Teacher

32
25

Greymouth
Greymouth, (from Stafford)

14 years
9 days; 25 yrs

Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth

13/6104

28 April 1913

Rev. W. York

No	32
Date of Notice	28 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Norman Parker	Georgina Marion Turner
	💍 1913/6343
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawyer	School Teacher
Age	32	25
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth, (from Stafford)
Length of Residence	14 years	9 days; 25 yrs
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth
Folio	13/6104
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. York

3 May 1913

Thomas Lindsay Abbott
Mary Scrugham

Thomas Lindsay Abbott
Mary Sewgham
💍 1913/4454

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

23
24

Greymouth, (from London)
Dunollie

3 days; 23 yrs
2 years

Residence of Mr. Percy Knowles, Dunollie

13/4057

3 May 1913

Rev. Moses Ayrton

No	33
Date of Notice	3 May 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Lindsay Abbott	Mary Scrugham
BDM Match (88%)	Thomas Lindsay Abbott	Mary Sewgham
	💍 1913/4454
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Greymouth, (from London)	Dunollie
Length of Residence	3 days; 23 yrs	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Percy Knowles, Dunollie
Folio	13/4057
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. 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).

Primary digitisation of registers between 1855 and 1925 is now complete. Our digitisation volunteers are now working on verifying the currently digitised pages against printed district/page indexes, to identify pages which may have been missed or out of focus. These pages can be re-imaged as required.

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.

How can I help?

You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

You can also support this project by ☕ Buying us a coffee 🌳

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).