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 722

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 March 1913 Registrar William Henry Potts

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

28 January 1913

Roger Arthur Price
Lois Eunice Cotterill

Roger Arthur Price
Lois Eunice Cotterill
💍 1913/317

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

34
25

Thames
Thames

3 years
3 days

St Georges Church, Mackay Street, Thames

13/747

28 January 1913

Dr O'Callaghan, Church of England

No	6
Date of Notice	28 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roger Arthur Price	Lois Eunice Cotterill
	💍 1913/317
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	34	25
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 years	3 days
Marriage Place	St Georges Church, Mackay Street, Thames
Folio	13/747
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1913
Officiating Minister	Dr O'Callaghan, Church of England

30 January 1913

George Turnbull Hiatt
Elsie Margaret Hiatt

George Turnbull
Elsie Margaret Hieatt
💍 1913/319

Bachelor
Spinster

Boilermaker
Domestic duties

22
20

Thames
Thames

5 years
10 years

Baptist & Congregational Church, Mary Street, Thames

13/749

30 January 1913

Rev F G Buckingham, Baptist & Congregational

No	7
Date of Notice	30 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Turnbull Hiatt	Elsie Margaret Hiatt
BDM Match (83%)	George Turnbull	Elsie Margaret Hieatt
	💍 1913/319
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boilermaker	Domestic duties
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	5 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Baptist & Congregational Church, Mary Street, Thames
Folio	13/749
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev F G Buckingham, Baptist & Congregational

5 February 1913

Henry Frederick Housler
Eliza Ann Woodhams

Henry Frederick Housler
Eliza Ann Woodhams
💍 1913/4755

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

32
47

Thames
Thames

3 days
3 days

In the house of Mr J. J. Hedder, Hikutaia, Thames

13/4358

See attached

8 February 1913

Rev J Trestrail, Methodist

No	8
Date of Notice	5 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Frederick Housler	Eliza Ann Woodhams
	💍 1913/4755
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	32	47
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr J. J. Hedder, Hikutaia, Thames
Folio	13/4358
Consent	See attached
Date of Certificate	8 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev J Trestrail, Methodist

17 February 1913

Sydney Hobbs Brown
Annie Mabel Brown

Sydney Hobbis
Annie Mabel Brown
💍 1913/313

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Book Keeper

34
27

Thames
Thames

2 days
27 years

In the house of Mr G. Brown, Richmond St, Thames

13/744

19 February 1913

Rev F G Buckingham, Baptist & Congregational

No	9
Date of Notice	17 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Hobbs Brown	Annie Mabel Brown
BDM Match (81%)	Sydney Hobbis	Annie Mabel Brown
	💍 1913/313
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Book Keeper
Age	34	27
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 days	27 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr G. Brown, Richmond St, Thames
Folio	13/744
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev F G Buckingham, Baptist & Congregational

19 February 1913

Allen Gubb McRoberts
Elizabeth Jane McRoberts

Allen Gubb
Elizabeth Jane McRoberts
💍 1913/312

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

31
22

Hikutaia
Wharepoa

4 years
22 years

In the house of Mr P. C. McRoberts, Wharepoa

13/743

19 February 1913

Rev J Trestrail, Methodist

No	10
Date of Notice	19 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allen Gubb McRoberts	Elizabeth Jane McRoberts
BDM Match (75%)	Allen Gubb	Elizabeth Jane McRoberts
	💍 1913/312
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Hikutaia	Wharepoa
Length of Residence	4 years	22 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr P. C. McRoberts, Wharepoa
Folio	13/743
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev J Trestrail, Methodist

8 March 1913

Frederick Ernest James Dowdle
Annie Gibson

Frederick Ernest James Dowdle
Annie Gibson
💍 1913/1292

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

23
22

Kaueranga
Thames

5 years
22 years

In the house of Mr J. Miles, Kaueranga

13/752

8 March 1913

Rev J Milne, Presbyterian

No	11
Date of Notice	8 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Ernest James Dowdle	Annie Gibson
	💍 1913/1292
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Kaueranga	Thames
Length of Residence	5 years	22 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr J. Miles, Kaueranga
Folio	13/752
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev J Milne, Presbyterian

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).