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 757

District of Tokatoka Quarter ending 31 December 1913 Registrar Herbert Leabourn

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

3 November 1913

Stinson Patrick Hutton
Annie Gertrude Mary Thomas

Stinson Patrick Hutton
Annie Gertrude Mary Thomas
💍 1913/7362

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

29
17

Aratapu
Aratapu

20 years
5 years

Roman Catholic Church, Te Kopuru

13/7151

George Thomas, father

3 November 1913

Rev. Wm. Van Dyk

No	7
Date of Notice	3 November 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stinson Patrick Hutton	Annie Gertrude Mary Thomas
	💍 1913/7362
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	29	17
Dwelling Place	Aratapu	Aratapu
Length of Residence	20 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Te Kopuru
Folio	13/7151
Consent	George Thomas, father
Date of Certificate	3 November 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Van Dyk

26 November 1913

Petar Marinkovich
Mare Kuscevich

Petar Marinkovich
Mare Kuscevich
💍 1913/7361

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
21

Te Kopuru
Te Kopuru

1 year
8 days

Roman Catholic Church, Te Kopuru

13/7150

26 November 1913

Rev. J. Zanna

No	8
Date of Notice	26 November 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Petar Marinkovich	Mare Kuscevich
	💍 1913/7361
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Te Kopuru	Te Kopuru
Length of Residence	1 year	8 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Te Kopuru
Folio	13/7150
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 November 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Zanna

6 December 1913

Phil Walker
Bertha Mabel Inch

Phil Walker Burnside Rowland
Bertha Mabel Inch
💍 1913/7377

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

22
20

O Kahu
O Kahu

4 months residence
20 years

Residence of Wm. Inch, O Kahu

13/7172

William Inch, father

6 December 1913

Rev. F. Latter

No	9
Date of Notice	6 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Phil Walker	Bertha Mabel Inch
BDM Match (70%)	Phil Walker Burnside Rowland	Bertha Mabel Inch
	💍 1913/7377
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	O Kahu	O Kahu
Length of Residence	4 months residence	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Wm. Inch, O Kahu
Folio	13/7172
Consent	William Inch, father
Date of Certificate	6 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Latter

19 December 1913

Anton Banicevich
Isabella Marguerite Sowter

Anton Banicevich
Isabella Margarita Sowter
💍 1913/7358

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
19

Aratapu
Aratapu

5 years
19 years

Residence of Alfred Sowter, Aratapu

13/7170

Alfred Sowter, father

19 December 1913

Rev. W. Rowell

No	10
Date of Notice	19 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Anton Banicevich	Isabella Marguerite Sowter
BDM Match (94%)	Anton Banicevich	Isabella Margarita Sowter
	💍 1913/7358
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	19
Dwelling Place	Aratapu	Aratapu
Length of Residence	5 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Alfred Sowter, Aratapu
Folio	13/7170
Consent	Alfred Sowter, father
Date of Certificate	19 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Rowell

20 December 1913

Richard Bloomfield Thornton
Gertrude Agnes Harrison

Richard Bloomfield Thornton
Gertrude Agnes Harrison
💍 1913/7364

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

28
26

Tangaihi
Tangaihi

3 days residence
26 years

Residence of Frank Harrison, Tangaihi

13/7153

Frank Harrison

20 December 1913

Rev. Van Dyk

No	11
Date of Notice	20 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Bloomfield Thornton	Gertrude Agnes Harrison
	💍 1913/7364
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Tangaihi	Tangaihi
Length of Residence	3 days residence	26 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Frank Harrison, Tangaihi
Folio	13/7153
Consent	Frank Harrison
Date of Certificate	20 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Van Dyk

24 December 1913

Samuel Watson Black
Mary Mills

Samuel Watson Clark
Mary Mills
💍 1913/7366

Bachelor
Spinster

Millhand

28
24

Te Kopuru
Te Kopuru

3 years
24 years

Methodist Church, Te Kopuru

13/7171

20 December 1913

Rev. A. S. Haynes

No	12
Date of Notice	24 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Watson Black	Mary Mills
BDM Match (95%)	Samuel Watson Clark	Mary Mills
	💍 1913/7366
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Millhand
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Te Kopuru	Te Kopuru
Length of Residence	3 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Te Kopuru
Folio	13/7171
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. S. Haynes

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).