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 604

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1913 Registrar Gilbert Graham Hodgkins

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

586

6 August 1913

William Alma Robertson
Jessie Martha McDonald

William Alma Robertson
Jessie Martha McDonald
💍 1913/4975

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

19
18

Wellington
Wellington

19 years
12 years

Registrar's office, Wellington

13/4603

Elizabeth Robertson, mother. John McDonald, father

6 August 1913

Registrar

No	586
Date of Notice	6 August 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alma Robertson	Jessie Martha McDonald
	💍 1913/4975
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	19	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	19 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's office, Wellington
Folio	13/4603
Consent	Elizabeth Robertson, mother. John McDonald, father
Date of Certificate	6 August 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar

587

6 August 1913

Henry Somes
Clara Monica O'Leary

Henry Somes
Clara Monica O'Leary
💍 1913/4976

Divorced (Decree absolute 28/6/1911)
Spinster

Woolorman

45
34

Wellington
Wellington

16 years
14 years

Registrar's office, Wellington

13/4604

6 August 1913

Registrar

No	587
Date of Notice	6 August 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Somes	Clara Monica O'Leary
	💍 1913/4976
Condition	Divorced (Decree absolute 28/6/1911)	Spinster
Profession	Woolorman
Age	45	34
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	16 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's office, Wellington
Folio	13/4604
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 August 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar

588

6 August 1913

Alfred Leonard Wall
Kate Rose Arnold

Alfred Leonard Wall
Kate Rose Arnold
💍 1913/6303

Bachelor
Spinster

Telephone Linesman

28
25

Wellington
Wellington

12 months
1 day

St. Andrew's Manse, Hill Street, Wellington

13/5894

6 August 1913

Rev. J. G. Smith

No	588
Date of Notice	6 August 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Leonard Wall	Kate Rose Arnold
	💍 1913/6303
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telephone Linesman
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 months	1 day
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Manse, Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	13/5894
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 August 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Smith

589

7 August 1913

William Ramsey Wilson
Ruby Elizabeth Nell O'Leary

William Ramsey Wilson
Ruby Elizabeth Nell McLeary
💍 1913/5624

Bachelor
Spinster

Tea Merchant

32
23

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
13 years

St. John's Church, Wellington

13/5257

7 August 1913

Rev. J. Gibb

No	589
Date of Notice	7 August 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Ramsey Wilson	Ruby Elizabeth Nell O'Leary
BDM Match (96%)	William Ramsey Wilson	Ruby Elizabeth Nell McLeary
	💍 1913/5624
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tea Merchant
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	13 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Wellington
Folio	13/5257
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 August 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb

590

7 August 1913

Frank Willcocks
Margaret Kelly

Frank Willcocks
Margaret Kelly
💍 1913/5543

James Millar
Margaret Kelly
💍 1913/9109

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

32
32

Wellington
Wellington

3 months
3 months

St. Joseph's Church, Buckle Street, Wellington

13/5199

7 August 1913

Rev. J. M. Barra

No	590
Date of Notice	7 August 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Willcocks	Margaret Kelly
	💍 1913/5543
BDM Match (63%)	James Millar	Margaret Kelly
	💍 1913/9109
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	32	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 months	3 months
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Church, Buckle Street, Wellington
Folio	13/5199
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 August 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Barra

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).