Intentions to Marry, 1913 Auckland, Taranaki

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840451, 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 045

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1913 Registrar Thomas Culpan

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

210

20 February 1913

Robert George Cook
Sybil Maud Wilson

Robert George Cook
Sybil Maud Wilson
💍 1913/356

Widower
Spinster

Confectioner

48
21

Auckland
Auckland

8 years
2 years

Home of Bridegroom, King Street, Arch Hill, Auckland

13/513

20 February 1913

Rev. F. A. Thompson

No	210
Date of Notice	20 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert George Cook	Sybil Maud Wilson
	💍 1913/356
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Confectioner
Age	48	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	8 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Home of Bridegroom, King Street, Arch Hill, Auckland
Folio	13/513
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. A. Thompson

211

20 February 1913

Robert Mayne Downard
Alice Elizabeth Downard

Robert Mayne
Alice Elizabeth Downard
💍 1913/669

Bachelor, Divorced (Decree Absolute 27 September 1912)

Warehouseman

46
39

Auckland
Auckland

12 years
12 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

13/488

20 February 1913

Deputy Registrar

No	211
Date of Notice	20 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Mayne Downard	Alice Elizabeth Downard
BDM Match (80%)	Robert Mayne	Alice Elizabeth Downard
	💍 1913/669
Condition	Bachelor, Divorced (Decree Absolute 27 September 1912)
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	46	39
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	12 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	13/488
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

212

21 February 1913

Albert Nicholson
Alice Maria Mercer

Albert Nicholson
Alice Maria Mercer
💍 1913/4680

Bachelor
Spinster

Boot Finisher

33
24

Auckland
Auckland

1 year
4 years 2 months

St. Luke's Church, Mt. Albert

13/425

21 February 1913

Rev. F. A. Jecks

No	212
Date of Notice	21 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Nicholson	Alice Maria Mercer
	💍 1913/4680
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boot Finisher
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 year	4 years 2 months
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Mt. Albert
Folio	13/425
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. A. Jecks

213

22 February 1913

Albert Taylor
Evelyn Barker

Albert Taylor
Evelyn Barker
💍 1913/2020

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

37
28

Auckland
Auckland

31 years
5 years

St. Mary's Cathedral, Parnell

13/1526

22 February 1913

Rev. J. H. Hawkins

No	213
Date of Notice	22 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Taylor	Evelyn Barker
	💍 1913/2020
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	37	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	31 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Cathedral, Parnell
Folio	13/1526
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Hawkins

214

22 February 1913

Harold Barrett Rothery
Olive Margaret Rothery

Harold Barrett
Olive Margaret Rothery
💍 1913/4839

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

21
21

Auckland
Auckland

16 years
Life, Mangere

Home of Bride's Father, Mangere

13/4416

Bride's Father

22 February 1913

Rev. C. E. Porter

No	214
Date of Notice	22 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Barrett Rothery	Olive Margaret Rothery
BDM Match (82%)	Harold Barrett	Olive Margaret Rothery
	💍 1913/4839
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	16 years	Life, Mangere
Marriage Place	Home of Bride's Father, Mangere
Folio	13/4416
Consent	Bride's Father
Date of Certificate	22 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. E. Porter

215

24 February 1913

Samuel Smith Fairbrass
Emma Mary Fairbrass

Samuel Smith
Emma Mary Fairbrass
💍 1913/670

Bachelor
Spinster

Mental Hospital Attendant

31
26

Auckland
Auckland

4 years 2 months
3 years 2 months

Registrar's Office, Auckland

13/499

24 February 1913

Deputy Registrar

No	215
Date of Notice	24 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Smith Fairbrass	Emma Mary Fairbrass
BDM Match (77%)	Samuel Smith	Emma Mary Fairbrass
	💍 1913/670
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mental Hospital Attendant
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years 2 months	3 years 2 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	13/499
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

216

24 February 1913

William Jackson Edmonds
Rosa Lena Deery

William Jackson Edmunds
Rosa Lema Deery
💍 1913/1030

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

24
21

Auckland
Auckland

18 years
Life, Auckland

St. Matthew's Church, Auckland

13/438

24 February 1913

Rev. W. E. Gillam

No	216
Date of Notice	24 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Jackson Edmonds	Rosa Lena Deery
BDM Match (95%)	William Jackson Edmunds	Rosa Lema Deery
	💍 1913/1030
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	18 years	Life, Auckland
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Auckland
Folio	13/438
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Gillam

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).