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 673

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

916

13 December 1913

George Daniel Stewart
Bessie Athin Longstaff

George Daniel Stewart
Bessie Atkin Longstaff
💍 1913/6790

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

29
26

Wellington
Wellington

6 months
6 months

Registrar's office, Wellington

13/6523

13 December 1913

Deputy Registrar

No	916
Date of Notice	13 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Daniel Stewart	Bessie Athin Longstaff
BDM Match (98%)	George Daniel Stewart	Bessie Atkin Longstaff
	💍 1913/6790
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's office, Wellington
Folio	13/6523
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

917

13 December 1913

Walter Francis While
Amy Alice Mooney

Walter Francis White
Amy Alice Mooney
💍 1913/8496

Widower (2 February 1912)
Spinster

Stationmaster

32
22

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

St. Anne's Church, Wellington South

8213

13 December 1913

Rev. W. Peoples

No	917
Date of Notice	13 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Francis While	Amy Alice Mooney
BDM Match (98%)	Walter Francis White	Amy Alice Mooney
	💍 1913/8496
Condition	Widower (2 February 1912)	Spinster
Profession	Stationmaster
Age	32	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Anne's Church, Wellington South
Folio	8213
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Peoples

918

15 December 1913

Frank Mardon Rickman
Beatrice Dolby Hibbard

Frank Maidon Rickman
Beatrice Dolley Hibbard
💍 1913/8775

Bachelor
Spinster

Stock Agent

40
24

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
10 years

St. Thomas' Church, Wellington

8603

15 December 1913

Rev. W. Fancourt

No	918
Date of Notice	15 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Mardon Rickman	Beatrice Dolby Hibbard
BDM Match (93%)	Frank Maidon Rickman	Beatrice Dolley Hibbard
	💍 1913/8775
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stock Agent
Age	40	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Thomas' Church, Wellington
Folio	8603
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Fancourt

919

15 December 1913

Herbert Samuel Martin Sparkes
Edith May Queree

Herbert Samuel Martin Sparkes
Edith May Queree
💍 1913/7644

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

20
21

Wellington
Wellington

20 years
21 years

Salvation Army Hall, Constable Street, Wellington

13/744

Samuel Sparkes, father

15 December 1913

Brigadier J. B. Bray

No	919
Date of Notice	15 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Samuel Martin Sparkes	Edith May Queree
	💍 1913/7644
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	20	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Hall, Constable Street, Wellington
Folio	13/744
Consent	Samuel Sparkes, father
Date of Certificate	15 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Brigadier J. B. Bray

920

15 December 1913

Cyril Adolph Book
Maggie Elizabeth Macdonald

Cyril Adolph Cook
Maggie Elizabeth Macdonald
💍 1913/9071

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician

25
24

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
12 years

Presbyterian Manse, 84 Hill Street, Wellington

13/8647

15 December 1913

Rev. J. G. Smith

No	920
Date of Notice	15 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Adolph Book	Maggie Elizabeth Macdonald
BDM Match (97%)	Cyril Adolph Cook	Maggie Elizabeth Macdonald
	💍 1913/9071
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	12 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, 84 Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	13/8647
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Smith

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).