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 726

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 June 1913 Registrar William H. Roth

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

10 May 1913

Edward George Rabe
Eva May Ensor

Edward George Kabe
Eva May Ensor
💍 1913/3248

Bachelor
Spinster

Boiler Maker
Domestic duties

27
22

Thames
Thames

27 years
22 years

Methodist Church, Pollen Street, Thames

13/2870

10 May 1913

Rev D McNicoll, Methodist

No	25
Date of Notice	10 May 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward George Rabe	Eva May Ensor
BDM Match (97%)	Edward George Kabe	Eva May Ensor
	💍 1913/3248
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boiler Maker	Domestic duties
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	27 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Pollen Street, Thames
Folio	13/2870
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 May 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev D McNicoll, Methodist

12 May 1913

Simun Devcich
Maetia Mercep

Sismun Devcich
Metia Mercep
💍 1913/3064

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Domestic duties

27
22

Puriri
Puriri

7 years
2 days

In the St Francis Roman Catholic Church, Willoughby Street, Thames

13/2876

14 May 1913

Rev F J Dignan, Roman Catholic

No	26
Date of Notice	12 May 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Simun Devcich	Maetia Mercep
BDM Match (93%)	Sismun Devcich	Metia Mercep
	💍 1913/3064
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Domestic duties
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Puriri	Puriri
Length of Residence	7 years	2 days
Marriage Place	In the St Francis Roman Catholic Church, Willoughby Street, Thames
Folio	13/2876
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 May 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev F J Dignan, Roman Catholic

6 June 1913

Wallace Fletcher Metcalfe
Shirley Muriel Bagnall

Wallace Fletcher Metcalfe
Shirley Muriel Bagnall
💍 1913/8532

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer
Domestic duties

29
29

Turua
Turua

3 days
29 years

In the Victoria Hall, Turua

13/6093

6 June 1913

Rev W R Woolley, Baptist

No	27
Date of Notice	6 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wallace Fletcher Metcalfe	Shirley Muriel Bagnall
	💍 1913/8532
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Turua	Turua
Length of Residence	3 days	29 years
Marriage Place	In the Victoria Hall, Turua
Folio	13/6093
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev W R Woolley, Baptist

7 June 1913

William Johnston
Ella Bond

William Johnston
Ella Bond
💍 1913/3252

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmoulder
Dressmaker

27
24

Thames
Thames

4 years
24 years

St Georges Church, Mackay Street, Thames

13/2874

7 June 1913

Dr O'Callaghan, Church of England

No	28
Date of Notice	7 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Johnston	Ella Bond
	💍 1913/3252
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmoulder	Dressmaker
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	4 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St Georges Church, Mackay Street, Thames
Folio	13/2874
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Dr O'Callaghan, Church of England

10 June 1913

Wilfred Abbot Stanley
Ellen McDonnell

Wilfred Abbot Ganley
Ellen McDonnell
💍 1913/4525

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Draper Assistant

29
24

Thames
Thames

5 days
24 years

St Francis Roman Catholic Church, Willoughby Street, Thames

13/4153

10 June 1913

Rev F J Dignan, Roman Catholic

No	29
Date of Notice	10 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilfred Abbot Stanley	Ellen McDonnell
BDM Match (95%)	Wilfred Abbot Ganley	Ellen McDonnell
	💍 1913/4525
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Draper Assistant
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	5 days	24 years
Marriage Place	St Francis Roman Catholic Church, Willoughby Street, Thames
Folio	13/4153
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev F J Dignan, Roman Catholic

11 June 1913

John MacDonald
Maud Wilkinson

John MacDonald
Maud Wilkinson
💍 1913/2704

Bachelor
Spinster

Instructor
Lady Help

31
30

Thames
Thames

4 months
6 days

Registrar Office, Mary Street, Thames

13/2423

11 June 1913

William H Potts, Registrar

No	30
Date of Notice	11 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John MacDonald	Maud Wilkinson
	💍 1913/2704
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Instructor	Lady Help
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	4 months	6 days
Marriage Place	Registrar Office, Mary Street, Thames
Folio	13/2423
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 June 1913
Officiating Minister	William H Potts, 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).