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 855

District of Eltham Quarter ending 31 December 1913 Registrar George Davie Gov

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

14 October 1913

Charles Perrett
Mary Alice Morgan

Charles Perrett
Mary Alice Morgan
💍 1913/6976

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

45
25

Stratford
Eltham

4 weeks
4 years

at the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Eltham

13/6664

14 October 1913

The Registrar

No	55
Date of Notice	14 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Perrett	Mary Alice Morgan
	💍 1913/6976
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	45	25
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Eltham
Length of Residence	4 weeks	4 years
Marriage Place	at the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Eltham
Folio	13/6664
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1913
Officiating Minister	The Registrar

25 October 1913

Hugh Blake Burdekin
Clarissa Marion Pease

Hugh Blake Bundikin
Clarissa Marion Pease
💍 1913/8626

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Domestic Duties

24
21

Eltham
Eltham

3 years
3 days

All Saints Church, Eltham

8409

25 October 1913

Rev. Geo. W. Dent

No	56
Date of Notice	25 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Blake Burdekin	Clarissa Marion Pease
BDM Match (95%)	Hugh Blake Bundikin	Clarissa Marion Pease
	💍 1913/8626
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Domestic Duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Eltham	Eltham
Length of Residence	3 years	3 days
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Eltham
Folio	8409
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 October 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. W. Dent

17 November 1913

John McGarra
Ada Adelena Macdonald

John McGarva
Ada Adelena Maindonald
💍 1913/6975

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

27
20

Mountain Rd. near Eltham
Mountain Rd. near Eltham

1 year
1 year

at the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Eltham

13/6666

Father

17 November 1913

The Registrar

No	57
Date of Notice	17 November 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McGarra	Ada Adelena Macdonald
BDM Match (91%)	John McGarva	Ada Adelena Maindonald
	💍 1913/6975
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Mountain Rd. near Eltham	Mountain Rd. near Eltham
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	at the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Eltham
Folio	13/6666
Consent	Father
Date of Certificate	17 November 1913
Officiating Minister	The Registrar

8 December 1913

Samuel Whitham
Catherine Frances Seed

Samuel Whitham
Catherine Frances Seed
💍 1913/7371

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

47
40

Eltham
Eltham

3 days
10 years

at the residence of Mr. P. Jenkins, Rawhitiroa

13/7184

8 December 1913

Rev. Hedley White

No	58
Date of Notice	8 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Whitham	Catherine Frances Seed
	💍 1913/7371
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	47	40
Dwelling Place	Eltham	Eltham
Length of Residence	3 days	10 years
Marriage Place	at the residence of Mr. P. Jenkins, Rawhitiroa
Folio	13/7184
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Hedley White

11 December 1913

William Alexander Reid
Lucy Adeline Lee

William Alexander Reid
Lucy Adeline Lee
💍 1913/8501

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

23
26

Eltham
Eltham

3 years
10 years

Knox Presbyterian Church, Eltham

8218

11 December 1913

Rev. J. P. Shore

No	59
Date of Notice	11 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alexander Reid	Lucy Adeline Lee
	💍 1913/8501
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	23	26
Dwelling Place	Eltham	Eltham
Length of Residence	3 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Knox Presbyterian Church, Eltham
Folio	8218
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. P. Shore

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).