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 205

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 December 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

1289

5 November 1913

Alexander Maxwell Mearns
Gwendoline Emily Cassina Dillon

Alexander Maxwell Mearns
Gwendoline Emily Cassina Dillon
💍 1913/7117

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

27
19

Auckland
Auckland

5 years
Life

House of Mr. A. Phillips, Mt. Pleasant Rd, Mt. Eden

13/6873

Peter Edmond Dillon, father

5 November 1913

Rev. R. L. Walker

No	1289
Date of Notice	5 November 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Maxwell Mearns	Gwendoline Emily Cassina Dillon
	💍 1913/7117
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years	Life
Marriage Place	House of Mr. A. Phillips, Mt. Pleasant Rd, Mt. Eden
Folio	13/6873
Consent	Peter Edmond Dillon, father
Date of Certificate	5 November 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. L. Walker

1290

6 November 1913

Arthur Charles Darwin Cooke
Muriel Alice Clara Horrocks

Arthur Charles Darwin Cooke
Muriel Alice Clara Horrocks
💍 1913/7420

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

36
26

Auckland
Auckland

11 years
8 years

A. Marks Church, Remuera

13/6839

6 November 1913

Rev. R. Beatty

No	1290
Date of Notice	6 November 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Charles Darwin Cooke	Muriel Alice Clara Horrocks
	💍 1913/7420
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	36	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	11 years	8 years
Marriage Place	A. Marks Church, Remuera
Folio	13/6839
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Beatty

1291

6 November 1913

Henry John Lawson
Alice Jane Still

Henry John Lawson
Alice Jane Hill
💍 1913/7067

Bachelor
Widow

Barman

46
41

Auckland
Auckland

5 years
7 years

A. Matthews Church, Auckland

13/6798

6 November 1913

Rev. W. Gillam

No	1291
Date of Notice	6 November 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry John Lawson	Alice Jane Still
BDM Match (94%)	Henry John Lawson	Alice Jane Hill
	💍 1913/7067
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Barman
Age	46	41
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years	7 years
Marriage Place	A. Matthews Church, Auckland
Folio	13/6798
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Gillam

1292

7 November 1913

Thomas Christian Thomsen
Mabel Wells Foster

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

29
25

Auckland
Auckland

5 years
8 years

St. John's Church, Parnell

13/6926

7 November 1913

Rev. J. Patterson

No	1292
Date of Notice	7 November 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Christian Thomsen	Mabel Wells Foster
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Parnell
Folio	13/6926
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 November 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Patterson

1293

7 November 1913

Frederick Henry Cooper
Emily Fisher

Frederick Kerr
Emily Cooper
💍 1913/7100

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier

34
30

Auckland
Auckland

2 months
6 months

St. Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland

13/6808

7 November 1913

Rev. G. Ormond

No	1293
Date of Notice	7 November 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Henry Cooper	Emily Fisher
BDM Match (63%)	Frederick Kerr	Emily Cooper
	💍 1913/7100
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier
Age	34	30
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 months	6 months
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland
Folio	13/6808
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 November 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Ormond

1294

8 November 1913

William Alexander MacCracken
Ethel Grace Jacobsen

William Alexander McCracken
Ethel Grace Jacobsen
💍 1913/7144

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

29
33

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
3 months

House of Bride's Father, Wardmore Rd, Ponsonby

13/6925

8 November 1913

Rev. M. Edge

No	1294
Date of Notice	8 November 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alexander MacCracken	Ethel Grace Jacobsen
BDM Match (98%)	William Alexander McCracken	Ethel Grace Jacobsen
	💍 1913/7144
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29	33
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	3 months
Marriage Place	House of Bride's Father, Wardmore Rd, Ponsonby
Folio	13/6925
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 November 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Edge

1295

8 November 1913

Albert Francis Holdsworth
Patience Leah Wright

Albert Francis Holdsworth
Patrience May Wright
💍 1913/8715

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

30
24

Auckland
Auckland

2 years 6 months
20 years

St. Philip's Church, St. Heliers Bay

8633

8 November 1913

Rev. W. A. Wilson

No	1295
Date of Notice	8 November 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Francis Holdsworth	Patience Leah Wright
BDM Match (90%)	Albert Francis Holdsworth	Patrience May Wright
	💍 1913/8715
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years 6 months	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Philip's Church, St. Heliers Bay
Folio	8633
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 November 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Wilson

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).