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 148

District of Woodville Quarter ending 31 March 1913 Registrar Robert Borne

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

148

10 March 1913

Peter Jensen
Sophia Williams

Peter Jensen
Sophia Williams
💍 1913/1766

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Cook

35
35

Woodville
Woodville

3 days
3 days

Holy Trinity Church

13/1231

10 March 1913

Rev. John Black Beales

No	148
Date of Notice	10 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Jensen	Sophia Williams
	💍 1913/1766
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Cook
Age	35	35
Dwelling Place	Woodville	Woodville
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church
Folio	13/1231
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Black Beales

149

13 March 1913

Matthew Henry Stevens
Nellie Searchfield

Walter Henry Stevens
Nellie Searchfield
💍 1913/1768

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Nurse

30
30

Woodville
Woodville

12 months
12 months

Holy Trinity Church Woodville

13/1233

13 March 1913

Rev. John Black Beales

No	149
Date of Notice	13 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew Henry Stevens	Nellie Searchfield
BDM Match (91%)	Walter Henry Stevens	Nellie Searchfield
	💍 1913/1768
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Nurse
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Woodville	Woodville
Length of Residence	12 months	12 months
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church Woodville
Folio	13/1233
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Black Beales

150

15 March 1913

Claude Henry John Pease
Barbara McLeod

Claude Henry John Pease
Barbara McLeod
💍 1913/3673

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Clerk

23
25

Woodville
Kumeroa

20 years
22 years

Residence of Mrs. Jane Hannah McLeod, Kumeroa

13/3095

15 March 1913

Rev. Robert Gardner

No	150
Date of Notice	15 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Claude Henry John Pease	Barbara McLeod
	💍 1913/3673
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Clerk
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Woodville	Kumeroa
Length of Residence	20 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Jane Hannah McLeod, Kumeroa
Folio	13/3095
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert Gardner

151

17 March 1913

Arthur Charles Perfect
Julia Louisa Bright

Arthur Charles Perfect
Julia Louisa Bright
💍 1913/1806

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer
Laundress

26
31

Woodville
Woodville

4 days
4 days

Residence of Mr. George Perfect, Bakerstown, Woodville

13/1257

17 March 1913

Rev. John Black Beales

No	151
Date of Notice	17 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Charles Perfect	Julia Louisa Bright
	💍 1913/1806
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Laundress
Age	26	31
Dwelling Place	Woodville	Woodville
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. George Perfect, Bakerstown, Woodville
Folio	13/1257
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Black Beales

152

22 March 1913

Charles Richard King
Ruth Ellen Stephen Pike

Charles Richard Tring
Ruth Ellen Tryphena Pike
💍 1913/1409

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

32
27

Woodville
Woodville

3 days
7 days

Residence of Mr. Thomas Jackson, Normandy St.

13/902

22 March 1913

Staff Captain Wallace, Salvation Army

No	152
Date of Notice	22 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Richard King	Ruth Ellen Stephen Pike
BDM Match (87%)	Charles Richard Tring	Ruth Ellen Tryphena Pike
	💍 1913/1409
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	32	27
Dwelling Place	Woodville	Woodville
Length of Residence	3 days	7 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Thomas Jackson, Normandy St.
Folio	13/902
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Staff Captain Wallace, Salvation Army

153

26 March 1913

Joseph Augustus Jamieson
Emily Amelia Hobbs

Joseph Augustus Tannion
Emily Amelia Hobbs
💍 1913/1389

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer
Domestic

38
25

Woodville

5 days
6 days

Catholic Church, Woodville

13/900

26 March 1913

Rev. Father Thomas McKenna

No	153
Date of Notice	26 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Augustus Jamieson	Emily Amelia Hobbs
BDM Match (90%)	Joseph Augustus Tannion	Emily Amelia Hobbs
	💍 1913/1389
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer	Domestic
Age	38	25
Dwelling Place	Woodville
Length of Residence	5 days	6 days
Marriage Place	Catholic Church, Woodville
Folio	13/900
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Thomas McKenna

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).