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 285

District of Dargaville Quarter ending 31 March 1913 Registrar L. Ure Macaulay

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

2 January 1913

Jack Naylor Larkin
Florence Woods

Jack Nayler Larkin
Florence Woods
💍 1913/2394

Bachelor
Spinster

Millhand
Household duties

22
23

Aoroa
Aoroa

9 days
23 years

In house of Mrs Charlock Woods

13/1861

2 January 1913

Rev W.S. Bowie

No	1
Date of Notice	2 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jack Naylor Larkin	Florence Woods
BDM Match (97%)	Jack Nayler Larkin	Florence Woods
	💍 1913/2394
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Millhand	Household duties
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Aoroa	Aoroa
Length of Residence	9 days	23 years
Marriage Place	In house of Mrs Charlock Woods
Folio	13/1861
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 January 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev W.S. Bowie

13 January 1913

John Francis Webster
Isabella Wiggins

John Francis Webster
Minnie Isabella Wiggins
💍 1913/1190

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
School Teacher

28
24

Mangawhai
Dargaville

4 days
3 weeks

Holy Trinity Church, Dargaville

13/1622

13 January 1913

Rev G.A.J. Rickaby

No	2
Date of Notice	13 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Francis Webster	Isabella Wiggins
BDM Match (85%)	John Francis Webster	Minnie Isabella Wiggins
	💍 1913/1190
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	School Teacher
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Mangawhai	Dargaville
Length of Residence	4 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Dargaville
Folio	13/1622
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev G.A.J. Rickaby

17 February 1913

Thomas Edmund George Parkinson
Margaret Day

Thomas Edmund George Parkinson
Margaret Sidney
💍 1913/814

Widower
Spinster

Barman
Waitress

38
21

Dargaville
Tekopuru

3 months
3 weeks

Registrar's Office, Toka Toka

13/245

17 February 1913

H. Leahman, Registrar, Toka Toka

No	3
Date of Notice	17 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Edmund George Parkinson	Margaret Day
BDM Match (83%)	Thomas Edmund George Parkinson	Margaret Sidney
	💍 1913/814
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Barman	Waitress
Age	38	21
Dwelling Place	Dargaville	Tekopuru
Length of Residence	3 months	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Toka Toka
Folio	13/245
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1913
Officiating Minister	H. Leahman, Registrar, Toka Toka

25 March 1913

James Harry Lastable
Florence McDowell

James Henry Bastable
Florence McDowell
💍 1913/1189

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Domestic duties

42
29

Dargaville
Dargaville

3 years
25 years

House of W.W.F. McDowell, Gladstone St, Dargaville

13/1623

25 March 1913

Rev R. Hilch

No	4
Date of Notice	25 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Harry Lastable	Florence McDowell
BDM Match (93%)	James Henry Bastable	Florence McDowell
	💍 1913/1189
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Domestic duties
Age	42	29
Dwelling Place	Dargaville	Dargaville
Length of Residence	3 years	25 years
Marriage Place	House of W.W.F. McDowell, Gladstone St, Dargaville
Folio	13/1623
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev R. Hilch

25 March 1913

Charles Arthur Woodcraft
Beatrice Alena White

Charles Arthur Woodcraft
Beatrice Alena White
💍 1913/1188

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Household duties

35
24

Matiere, Ohura
Kaimanuka, Waitotara

3 days
2 weeks

Holy Trinity Church, Dargaville

13/1622

25 March 1913

Rev J. Latter

No	5
Date of Notice	25 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Arthur Woodcraft	Beatrice Alena White
	💍 1913/1188
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Household duties
Age	35	24
Dwelling Place	Matiere, Ohura	Kaimanuka, Waitotara
Length of Residence	3 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Dargaville
Folio	13/1622
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Latter

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).