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 682

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

956

23 December 1913

George Theodor Schtacht
Martha Parsouage

George Theodor Schacht
Martha Parsonage
💍 1914/7183

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

26
31

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
4 1/2 years

Residence of Mr. A. J. A. Holmes, 81 Bolton Street, Wellington

1043

23 December 1913

Rev. J. G. Smith

No	956
Date of Notice	23 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Theodor Schtacht	Martha Parsouage
BDM Match (95%)	George Theodor Schacht	Martha Parsonage
	💍 1914/7183
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	26	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	4 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. A. J. A. Holmes, 81 Bolton Street, Wellington
Folio	1043
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Smith

957

23 December 1913

Frederick William Macdonald
Mabel Harriet Sherwood

Frederick William MacDonald
Mabel Harriet Sherwood
💍 1913/7643

Bachelor
Spinster

Electric Works Operator
Operator

30
27

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 years

St. John's Church, Willis Street, Wellington

13/740

23 December 1913

Rev. J. Gibb

No	957
Date of Notice	23 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Macdonald	Mabel Harriet Sherwood
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick William MacDonald	Mabel Harriet Sherwood
	💍 1913/7643
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electric Works Operator	Operator
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	13/740
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb

958

23 December 1913

Martin Matthews
Sarah Louisa Aldersley

Martin Matthews
Sarah Louisa Aldersley
💍 1913/6873

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer

40
41

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
21 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

13/6536

23 December 1913

Registrar

No	958
Date of Notice	23 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Matthews	Sarah Louisa Aldersley
	💍 1913/6873
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer
Age	40	41
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	21 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	13/6536
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar

959

23 December 1913

Frederick James Snow
Catherine McKenna

Frederick James Snow
Catherine McKenna
💍 1913/8495

Bachelor
Spinster

Presser

25
26

Wellington
Wellington South

5 years
26 years

St. Anne's Church

8212

23 December 1913

Rev. W. Peoples

No	959
Date of Notice	23 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick James Snow	Catherine McKenna
	💍 1913/8495
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Presser
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington South
Length of Residence	5 years	26 years
Marriage Place	St. Anne's Church
Folio	8212
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Peoples

960

23 December 1913

Alfred William John Bennett
Hilda Rosson

Alfred William John Bennett
Hilda Rosson
💍 1913/6874

Bachelor
Spinster

22
23

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
5 years

Registrar's Office

13/6537

23 December 1913

Registrar

No	960
Date of Notice	23 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred William John Bennett	Hilda Rosson
	💍 1913/6874
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	13/6537
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar

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).