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 509

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1913 Registrar Gilbert Graham Hodghins

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

126

18 February 1913

Joseph King
Fanny Saul

Joseph King
Fanny Saul
💍 1913/1564

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

28
27

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
11 months

St. Peter's Church, Wellington

13/1127

18 February 1913

Ven. Arch. C.C. Harper

No	126
Date of Notice	18 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph King	Fanny Saul
	💍 1913/1564
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	11 months
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Wellington
Folio	13/1127
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Ven. Arch. C.C. Harper

127

19 February 1913

Francis Hervey Davies
Ellen Dorothy Bedford

Francis Hervey Davis
Ellen Dorothy Bedford
💍 1913/744

Bachelor
Spinster

Shop Assistant

22
21

Wellington
Wellington

Life
Life

Registrar's Office, Wellington

13/123

19 February 1913

Registrar

No	127
Date of Notice	19 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Hervey Davies	Ellen Dorothy Bedford
BDM Match (98%)	Francis Hervey Davis	Ellen Dorothy Bedford
	💍 1913/744
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shop Assistant
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	13/123
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar

128

19 February 1913

Charles Seddon
Ruth Ellis

Charles Seddon
Ruth Ellis
💍 1913/1594

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder

34
28

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
2 days

Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington

13/1157

19 February 1913

Rev. J. G. Chapman

No	128
Date of Notice	19 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Seddon	Ruth Ellis
	💍 1913/1594
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder
Age	34	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	2 days
Marriage Place	Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington
Folio	13/1157
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Chapman

129

20 February 1913

Henry Clifford Williams
Gertrude Alice Ann Minchin Goodenough

Harry Clifford Williams
Gertrude Alice Ann Minchin Goodenough
💍 1913/745

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

27
29

Wellington
Wellington

7 months
10 months

Registrar's Office, Wellington

13/124

20 February 1913

Registrar

No	129
Date of Notice	20 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Clifford Williams	Gertrude Alice Ann Minchin Goodenough
BDM Match (96%)	Harry Clifford Williams	Gertrude Alice Ann Minchin Goodenough
	💍 1913/745
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	27	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 months	10 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	13/124
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar

130

20 February 1913

Sidney Frederick William Vause
Nellie Isabella Webb

Sidney Frederick William Vause
Nellie Isabella Webb
💍 1913/2475

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

25
23

Wellington
Wellington

11 years
12 years

St. Thomas Church, Wellington

13/2044

20 February 1913

Rev. W. Fancourt

No	130
Date of Notice	20 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney Frederick William Vause	Nellie Isabella Webb
	💍 1913/2475
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	11 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St. Thomas Church, Wellington
Folio	13/2044
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Fancourt

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).