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 641

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

756

13 October 1913

Michael Francis O'Kane
Catherine Mary O'Sullivan

Michael Francis O'Kane
Catherine Mary O'Sullivan
💍 1913/7552

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer

42
37

Wellington
Wellington

6 years
20 years

St. Joseph's Church, Wellington

13/7290

13 October 1913

Rev. D. O. Hurley

No	756
Date of Notice	13 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Francis O'Kane	Catherine Mary O'Sullivan
	💍 1913/7552
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer
Age	42	37
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Church, Wellington
Folio	13/7290
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. O. Hurley

757

13 October 1913

Gustave Nelson
Emily Ralph

Gustave Nelson
Emily Ralph
💍 1913/6760

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

36
23

Wellington
Wellington

12 years
23 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

13/6493

13 October 1913

Deputy Registrar

No	757
Date of Notice	13 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gustave Nelson	Emily Ralph
	💍 1913/6760
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	36	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	13/6493
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1913
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

758

14 October 1913

Clarence Everard Waves
Violet Adelaide Diggle

Clarence Leonard Dawes
Violet Adelaide Diggle
💍 1913/8470

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

23
23

Wellington
Wellington

22 years
12 years

Trinity Wesleyan Church, Wellington South

8286

14 October 1913

Rev. J. Ward

No	758
Date of Notice	14 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarence Everard Waves	Violet Adelaide Diggle
BDM Match (86%)	Clarence Leonard Dawes	Violet Adelaide Diggle
	💍 1913/8470
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	22 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Wesleyan Church, Wellington South
Folio	8286
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Ward

759

14 October 1913

William John Herbert Compton
Anita Amedia Rosina Maria Moore

William John Herbert Compton
Anita Amelia Rosina Maria Moore
💍 1913/8499

Bachelor
Spinster

Tramway Conductor

23
20

Kilbirnie
Lyall Bay

3 years
5 years

St. Anne's Church, Green Street, Wellington

8216

Joseph James Moore, father

14 October 1913

Rev. W. Peoples

No	759
Date of Notice	14 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Herbert Compton	Anita Amedia Rosina Maria Moore
BDM Match (98%)	William John Herbert Compton	Anita Amelia Rosina Maria Moore
	💍 1913/8499
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tramway Conductor
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Kilbirnie	Lyall Bay
Length of Residence	3 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Anne's Church, Green Street, Wellington
Folio	8216
Consent	Joseph James Moore, father
Date of Certificate	14 October 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Peoples

760

14 October 1913

Gilbert Clifford Noble
Hannah Evelyn Lechner

Gilbert Clifford Noble
Hannah Evelyn Zeechuer
💍 1913/7898

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

21
19

Wellington
Wellington

21 years
19 years

St. Augustine's Church, Pelone

7690

Margaret Elizabeth Lechner, mother

14 October 1913

Rev. G. B. Stephenson

No	760
Date of Notice	14 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gilbert Clifford Noble	Hannah Evelyn Lechner
BDM Match (93%)	Gilbert Clifford Noble	Hannah Evelyn Zeechuer
	💍 1913/7898
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	21 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Pelone
Folio	7690
Consent	Margaret Elizabeth Lechner, mother
Date of Certificate	14 October 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Stephenson

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).