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 300

District of Masterton Quarter ending 31 December 1913 Registrar William Miller Easthope

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

20 December 1913

Byron Phelps Mitchell
Aleax Harriet Johnson

Byron Phelps Mitchell
Alicia Harriet Johnson
💍 1913/7695

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic duties

33
28

Masterton
Masterton

17 months
17 weeks

The house of Frederick Allan, 6 Smith Street, Masterton

13/7484

20 December 1913

Staff Captain Frank Wallace, Salvation Army

No	73
Date of Notice	20 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Byron Phelps Mitchell	Aleax Harriet Johnson
BDM Match (91%)	Byron Phelps Mitchell	Alicia Harriet Johnson
	💍 1913/7695
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic duties
Age	33	28
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	17 months	17 weeks
Marriage Place	The house of Frederick Allan, 6 Smith Street, Masterton
Folio	13/7484
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Staff Captain Frank Wallace, Salvation Army

22 December 1913

Mane Anaru
Te Uira Iwahoteranga Damihana

Mane Anaru
Te Uira Wahoterangi Tamihana
💍 1913/9112

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

31
22

Okutete Masterton
Okutete Masterton

10 years
1 year

The Church of the Seven Rules of Jehovah, Okutete

8791

22 December 1913

Rev. Aperahama Anaru, Seven Rules of Jehovah

No	74
Date of Notice	22 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Mane Anaru	Te Uira Iwahoteranga Damihana
BDM Match (93%)	Mane Anaru	Te Uira Wahoterangi Tamihana
	💍 1913/9112
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Okutete Masterton	Okutete Masterton
Length of Residence	10 years	1 year
Marriage Place	The Church of the Seven Rules of Jehovah, Okutete
Folio	8791
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Aperahama Anaru, Seven Rules of Jehovah

24 December 1913

Lionel Bedwill Rhodes
Veda Marion Halse

Lionel Bidwell Rhodes
Veda Marion Halse
💍 1913/9016

Bachelor
Spinster

Stock Agent

24
23

Masterton
Masterton

2 years
6 months

St. Matthew's Church, Masterton

8718

24 December 1913

Rev. H. Watson, Anglican

No	75
Date of Notice	24 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lionel Bedwill Rhodes	Veda Marion Halse
BDM Match (95%)	Lionel Bidwell Rhodes	Veda Marion Halse
	💍 1913/9016
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stock Agent
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	2 years	6 months
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Masterton
Folio	8718
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Watson, Anglican

29 December 1913

Edward Larsen
Fanny Kathleen Larsen

Edward Larsen
Fanny Kathleen Larsen
💍 1913/9017

Bachelor
Spinster

Music Teacher
Domestic Duties

23
22

Masterton
Masterton

23 years
22 years

St. Matthew's Church, Masterton

8719

29 December 1913

Rev. H. Watson, Anglican

No	76
Date of Notice	29 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Larsen	Fanny Kathleen Larsen
	💍 1913/9017
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Music Teacher	Domestic Duties
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	23 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Masterton
Folio	8719
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Watson, Anglican

29 December 1913

John Archibald Freet
Iris Rosetta Carroll

John Archibald Freer
Lois Rosetta Carroll
💍 1913/8603

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Hand
Domestic Duties

31
21

Masterton
Masterton

8 years
21 years

St. Patrick's Church, Masterton

8410

29 December 1913

Rev. C. Harnett, Roman Catholic

No	77
Date of Notice	29 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Archibald Freet	Iris Rosetta Carroll
BDM Match (93%)	John Archibald Freer	Lois Rosetta Carroll
	💍 1913/8603
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Hand	Domestic Duties
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	8 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Masterton
Folio	8410
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Harnett, Roman Catholic

30 December 1913

John Archibald Freet
Iris Rosetta Carroll

John Archibald Freer
Lois Rosetta Carroll
💍 1913/8603

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Hand
Domestic Duties

31
21

Masterton
Masterton

8 years
21 years

Roman Catholic Presbytery, Masterton

8410

30 December 1913

Rev. C. Harnett, Roman Catholic

No	78
Date of Notice	30 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Archibald Freet	Iris Rosetta Carroll
BDM Match (93%)	John Archibald Freer	Lois Rosetta Carroll
	💍 1913/8603
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Hand	Domestic Duties
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	8 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Presbytery, Masterton
Folio	8410
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Harnett, Roman Catholic

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).