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 915

District of Opunake Quarter ending 30 September 1913 Registrar W. G. Thorkon

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

7 July 1913

Charles William Cook
Sophia Caroline Dudley

Charles William Cook
Carolena Sophia Dudley
💍 1913/6552

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

24
24

Oaonui
Opunake

24 years
24 years

Church of England

13/5920

7 July 1913

Rev. O. H. Stent, Church of England

No	13
Date of Notice	7 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles William Cook	Sophia Caroline Dudley
BDM Match (70%)	Charles William Cook	Carolena Sophia Dudley
	💍 1913/6552
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Oaonui	Opunake
Length of Residence	24 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	13/5920
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. O. H. Stent, Church of England

12 July 1913

Hercules Segar
Lizzie Neilson Stuart Forbes

Hercules Segar
Lizzie Neilson Stewart Rookes
💍 1913/6531

Bachelor
Spinster

Factory Manager
School Teacher

26
21

Oaonui
Rahotu

4 years
5 years

Church of England, Rahotu

13/6269

12 July 1913

Rev. C. Addenbrooke, Church of England

No	14
Date of Notice	12 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hercules Segar	Lizzie Neilson Stuart Forbes
BDM Match (91%)	Hercules Segar	Lizzie Neilson Stewart Rookes
	💍 1913/6531
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Factory Manager	School Teacher
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Oaonui	Rahotu
Length of Residence	4 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Rahotu
Folio	13/6269
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Addenbrooke, Church of England

28 July 1913

James Maedie
Ivy Eileen Foller

James Macfie
Ivy Eileen Potter
💍 1913/5123

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

32
21

Oaonui
Oaonui

28 years
Life

Registrar's Office, Opunake

13/4730

28 July 1913

W. G. Thorkon, Registrar

No	15
Date of Notice	28 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Maedie	Ivy Eileen Foller
BDM Match (83%)	James Macfie	Ivy Eileen Potter
	💍 1913/5123
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Oaonui	Oaonui
Length of Residence	28 years	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Opunake
Folio	13/4730
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1913
Officiating Minister	W. G. Thorkon, Registrar

5 August 1913

John McKenzie
Catherine Broken

Colin John McKenzie
Catherine Trotter
💍 1913/5535

John McKenzie
Mary Isabella McLean
💍 1913/5160

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

20
23

Opunake
Opunake

2 years
23 years

At the house of G. Brown, Opunake

13/5192

5 August 1913

Geo. G. Welch, Presbyterian

No	16
Date of Notice	5 August 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McKenzie	Catherine Broken
BDM Match (72%)	Colin John McKenzie	Catherine Trotter
	💍 1913/5535
BDM Match (60%)	John McKenzie	Mary Isabella McLean
	💍 1913/5160
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	20	23
Dwelling Place	Opunake	Opunake
Length of Residence	2 years	23 years
Marriage Place	At the house of G. Brown, Opunake
Folio	13/5192
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 August 1913
Officiating Minister	Geo. G. Welch, Presbyterian

21 August 1913

Samuel Henry Alvis
Maud Williamson

Samuel Henry Alvis
Maud Williamson
💍 1913/5122

Widower
Spinster

Sawmill Hand
Domestic

31
19

Opunake
Oaonui

5 days
2 months

Registrar's Office, Opunake

13/4729

Amos Williamson, Father

21 August 1913

W. G. Thorkon, Registrar

No	17
Date of Notice	21 August 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Henry Alvis	Maud Williamson
	💍 1913/5122
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Sawmill Hand	Domestic
Age	31	19
Dwelling Place	Opunake	Oaonui
Length of Residence	5 days	2 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Opunake
Folio	13/4729
Consent	Amos Williamson, Father
Date of Certificate	21 August 1913
Officiating Minister	W. G. Thorkon, Registrar

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).