Intentions to Marry, 1911 Auckland, Taranaki

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840445, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1911 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, (1911a), Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1911b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1911c).

Page 852

District of Patea Quarter ending 30 September 1911 Registrar Albert Benner

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

11 July 1911

Joseph Smillie
Edith Mary Macbeth

Joseph Smillie
Edith Mary Macbeth
💍 1911/5738

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
18

Manutahi
Manutahi

2 years
18 years

Private residence of W. A. I. Macbeth, Manutahi

11/5605

Archer Thomas Macbeth, Father

11 July 1911

Rev. J. Shore

No	47
Date of Notice	11 July 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Smillie	Edith Mary Macbeth
	💍 1911/5738
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	18
Dwelling Place	Manutahi	Manutahi
Length of Residence	2 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Private residence of W. A. I. Macbeth, Manutahi
Folio	11/5605
Consent	Archer Thomas Macbeth, Father
Date of Certificate	11 July 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Shore

14 July 1911

Richard George Scown
Florence Jane Gibb

Richard George Scown
Florence Jane Gibbs
💍 1911/5739

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

31
22

Hurleyville
Alton

31 years
22 years

Private residence of Mr. James Gibb, Alton

11/5606

14 July 1911

Rev. J. H. Shore

No	48
Date of Notice	14 July 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard George Scown	Florence Jane Gibb
BDM Match (97%)	Richard George Scown	Florence Jane Gibbs
	💍 1911/5739
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Hurleyville	Alton
Length of Residence	31 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Private residence of Mr. James Gibb, Alton
Folio	11/5606
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Shore

24 July 1911

Arthur Heir Vogel
Edith Gertrude Vogel

Arthur Heir
Edith Gertrude Vogel
💍 1911/8474

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller
Domestic duties

25
20

Patea
Patea

18 months
1 year

Private residence of Mrs. S. A. Vogel, Patea

11/8504

Sarah Ann Vogel, Mother

24 July 1911

Rev. John Hobson White

No	49
Date of Notice	24 July 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Heir Vogel	Edith Gertrude Vogel
BDM Match (82%)	Arthur Heir	Edith Gertrude Vogel
	💍 1911/8474
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller	Domestic duties
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Patea	Patea
Length of Residence	18 months	1 year
Marriage Place	Private residence of Mrs. S. A. Vogel, Patea
Folio	11/8504
Consent	Sarah Ann Vogel, Mother
Date of Certificate	24 July 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Hobson White

31 July 1911

Daniel Hurley
Ellen Kerrisk

Daniel Hurley
Ellen Kerrisk
💍 1911/5231

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Assistant Teacher

31
22

Hurleyville
Kakaramea

31 years
22 years

Roman Catholic Church, Patea

11/5088

31 July 1911

Rev. Edward Duffy

No	50
Date of Notice	31 July 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Hurley	Ellen Kerrisk
	💍 1911/5231
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Assistant Teacher
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Hurleyville	Kakaramea
Length of Residence	31 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Patea
Folio	11/5088
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. Edward Duffy

14 August 1911

Thomas Geary
Caroline Blair Oldridge

Thomas Geary
Caroline Blair Oldridge
💍 1911/5264

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

41
32

Manutahi
Manutahi

2 years
4 days

Private residence of James Geary, Manutahi

11/5098

14 August 1911

Rev. Mr. Harry Howes

No	51
Date of Notice	14 August 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Geary	Caroline Blair Oldridge
	💍 1911/5264
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	41	32
Dwelling Place	Manutahi	Manutahi
Length of Residence	2 years	4 days
Marriage Place	Private residence of James Geary, Manutahi
Folio	11/5098
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 August 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. Mr. Harry Howes

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).