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 291

District of Dargaville Quarter ending 31 December 1913 Registrar S. 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

31 October 1913

Charles Clotworthy Bushman
Ellen Stuart Hemphill

Charles Clotworthy
Ellen Stuart Hemphill
💍 1913/7354

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Domestic duties

33
21

Tangiteroria
Dargaville

10 years
6 months

Holy Trinity Church, Dargaville

13/7166

31 October 1913

Rev. F. Latter

No	17
Date of Notice	31 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Clotworthy Bushman	Ellen Stuart Hemphill
BDM Match (85%)	Charles Clotworthy	Ellen Stuart Hemphill
	💍 1913/7354
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Domestic duties
Age	33	21
Dwelling Place	Tangiteroria	Dargaville
Length of Residence	10 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Dargaville
Folio	13/7166
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Latter

25 November 1913

David George Mason
Margaret Marion Curle

Bachelor
Spinster

General Labourer
Domestic duties

24
21

Dargaville
Dargaville

4 weeks
4 weeks

In the house of Rev. Flavell, Mangawhare

Not Told

25 November 1913

Rev. W. S. Bowie

No	18
Date of Notice	25 November 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David George Mason	Margaret Marion Curle
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	General Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Dargaville	Dargaville
Length of Residence	4 weeks	4 weeks
Marriage Place	In the house of Rev. Flavell, Mangawhare
Folio	Not Told
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 November 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bowie

26 November 1913

Daniel Goldin Budder
Mary Kathleen Carney

Daniel Galvin
Mary Kathleen Carney
💍 1913/7363

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

26
23

Mangawhare
Mangawhare

3 days
7 days

Church of the Sacred Heart, Mangawhare

13/7152

26 November 1913

Father Vandijk

No	19
Date of Notice	26 November 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Goldin Budder	Mary Kathleen Carney
BDM Match (78%)	Daniel Galvin	Mary Kathleen Carney
	💍 1913/7363
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Mangawhare	Mangawhare
Length of Residence	3 days	7 days
Marriage Place	Church of the Sacred Heart, Mangawhare
Folio	13/7152
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 November 1913
Officiating Minister	Father Vandijk

15 December 1913

Robert Harkins
Jessie Standiff

Robert Harkins
Jessie Stancliffe
💍 1913/7353

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Household duties

30
18

Dargaville
Dargaville

30 years
18 years

In the house of Thomas Standiff, Dargaville

13/7164

Thomas Standiff, Father

15 December 1913

Rev. S. Bowie

No	20
Date of Notice	15 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Harkins	Jessie Standiff
BDM Match (91%)	Robert Harkins	Jessie Stancliffe
	💍 1913/7353
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Household duties
Age	30	18
Dwelling Place	Dargaville	Dargaville
Length of Residence	30 years	18 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Thomas Standiff, Dargaville
Folio	13/7164
Consent	Thomas Standiff, Father
Date of Certificate	15 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Bowie

22 December 1913

George Frederick Meale
Elizabeth Sarah Thompson

George Frederick Meale
Elizabeth Sarah Thompson
💍 1913/7355

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Waitress

25
25

Kaihu
Kaihu

2 years
2 years

Opanake Hotel, Kaihu

13/7167

22 December 1913

Rev. F. Latter

No	21
Date of Notice	22 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Frederick Meale	Elizabeth Sarah Thompson
	💍 1913/7355
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Waitress
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Kaihu	Kaihu
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Opanake Hotel, Kaihu
Folio	13/7167
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. 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).