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 560

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 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

371

12 May 1913

Sidney George Nathan
Kathleen Eva Lever

Sidney George Nathan
Kathleen Eva Lever
💍 1913/469

Bachelor
Spinster

Land agent

28
25

Wellington
Wellington

28 years
2 years

Registrar's office

13/2224

12 May 1913

Registrar

No	371
Date of Notice	12 May 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney George Nathan	Kathleen Eva Lever
	💍 1913/469
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Land agent
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	28 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's office
Folio	13/2224
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 May 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar

372

12 May 1913

Donald Charles McAllister
Grace Lilian Hamilton

Donald Charles McAllister
Grace Lilian Hamilton
💍 1913/3905

Bachelor
Spinster

Steward

21
19

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
19 years

Residence of Rev W. A. Evans, 198 Roki Street, Wellington

13/3356

Janet Hamilton, mother

12 May 1913

Rev W. A. Evans

No	372
Date of Notice	12 May 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Charles McAllister	Grace Lilian Hamilton
	💍 1913/3905
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Steward
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	19 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev W. A. Evans, 198 Roki Street, Wellington
Folio	13/3356
Consent	Janet Hamilton, mother
Date of Certificate	12 May 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev W. A. Evans

373

13 May 1913

William Edward Williams
Irene Vaughan Ashwood

William Edward Williams
Irene Vaughan Ashwood
💍 1913/4557

Bachelor
Spinster

Manufacturer

28
25

Wellington
Wellington

28 years
11 years

St. Hilda's Church, Island Bay, Wellington

13/4026

13 May 1913

Rev C. W. D. Maclaverty

No	373
Date of Notice	13 May 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edward Williams	Irene Vaughan Ashwood
	💍 1913/4557
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Manufacturer
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	28 years	11 years
Marriage Place	St. Hilda's Church, Island Bay, Wellington
Folio	13/4026
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev C. W. D. Maclaverty

374

13 May 1913

Albert Sidney Smith
Marie Marguerite Josephine Egden

Albert Sidney Smith
Marie Marguerite Josphine Egden
💍 1913/3432

Divorced (Decree absolute 6 May 1904)
Spinster

Actor

41
31

Wellington
Wellington

40 years
4½ years

Residence of Mrs Smith, 4½ College Street, Wellington

13/3283

13 May 1913

Rev J. K. Elliot

No	374
Date of Notice	13 May 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Sidney Smith	Marie Marguerite Josephine Egden
BDM Match (98%)	Albert Sidney Smith	Marie Marguerite Josphine Egden
	💍 1913/3432
Condition	Divorced (Decree absolute 6 May 1904)	Spinster
Profession	Actor
Age	41	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	40 years	4½ years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Smith, 4½ College Street, Wellington
Folio	13/3283
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev J. K. Elliot

375

14 May 1913

John Bennett
Isabel Mary Majory Whitford

John Bennett
Label Mary Majory Whitford
💍 1913/470

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

25
22

Roseneath
Kilbirnie

7 years
15 years

Registrar's office

13/2225

14 May 1913

Registrar

No	375
Date of Notice	14 May 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Bennett	Isabel Mary Majory Whitford
BDM Match (96%)	John Bennett	Label Mary Majory Whitford
	💍 1913/470
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Roseneath	Kilbirnie
Length of Residence	7 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's office
Folio	13/2225
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 May 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).