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 315

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 30 June 1913 Registrar Henry Ewart Hill

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

16 April 1913

George Howard Curtis Moore
Sarah McEwan

George Howard Curtis Moore
Sarah McEwan
💍 1913/550

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic Servant

25
23

Gisborne, Poverty Bay
Gisborne

3 years
17 months

The office of The Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

13/2357

16 April 1913

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	65
Date of Notice	16 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Howard Curtis Moore	Sarah McEwan
	💍 1913/550
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic Servant
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Gisborne, Poverty Bay	Gisborne
Length of Residence	3 years	17 months
Marriage Place	The office of The Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	13/2357
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 April 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

16 April 1913

Samuel Gardner
Agnes Johnson Lowison Groth

Samuel Gardner
Agnes Johnson Howison Croll
💍 1913/3037

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

28
29

Matawhero, Poverty Bay
Manutuke, Poverty Bay

3 years
2 years

St. Andrews Church Manse, Gisborne

13/2808

16 April 1913

Rev. William Grant, Presbyterian Minister

No	66
Date of Notice	16 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Gardner	Agnes Johnson Lowison Groth
BDM Match (93%)	Samuel Gardner	Agnes Johnson Howison Croll
	💍 1913/3037
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Matawhero, Poverty Bay	Manutuke, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church Manse, Gisborne
Folio	13/2808
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 April 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Grant, Presbyterian Minister

17 April 1913

Percy Jenkins
Daisy May Andrew

Percy Jenkins
Daisy May Andrew
💍 1913/3643

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Saleswoman

25
20

Gisborne (Tokomaru Bay)
Gisborne

3 years
17 years

Baptist Tabernacle, Palmerston Road, Gisborne

13/2841

Mary Andrew, adopted parent (consent by legal adoption)

17 April 1913

Rev. Thomas T. Ewen, Baptist Minister

No	67
Date of Notice	17 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Jenkins	Daisy May Andrew
	💍 1913/3643
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Saleswoman
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Gisborne (Tokomaru Bay)	Gisborne
Length of Residence	3 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Tabernacle, Palmerston Road, Gisborne
Folio	13/2841
Consent	Mary Andrew, adopted parent (consent by legal adoption)
Date of Certificate	17 April 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas T. Ewen, Baptist Minister

17 April 1913

David Morice
Nellie Mabel Morrice

David Morice
Nellie Mabel Norris
💍 1913/3646

Bachelor
Spinster

Agent
Domestic Duties

63
40

Gisborne
Gisborne

27 years
36 years

Te Rau Church, Golden Street, Gisborne

13/2844

17 April 1913

Rev. Fredk. Wm. Chatterton, Church of England

No	68
Date of Notice	17 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Morice	Nellie Mabel Morrice
BDM Match (93%)	David Morice	Nellie Mabel Norris
	💍 1913/3646
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Agent	Domestic Duties
Age	63	40
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	27 years	36 years
Marriage Place	Te Rau Church, Golden Street, Gisborne
Folio	13/2844
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 April 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Fredk. Wm. Chatterton, Church of England

19 April 1913

Hira Nepia
Te Otira Ruru

Hira Nepia
Te Otina Ruru
💍 1913/551

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer (Aboriginal Native of New Zealand)
Domestic Duties (Aboriginal Native of New Zealand)

18
18

Puha
Puha, Poverty Bay

1 month
7 months

The office of The Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

13/2358

Toro Nepia (Father), Karaitiana Ruru (Father)

19 April 1913

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	69
Date of Notice	19 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hira Nepia	Te Otira Ruru
BDM Match (96%)	Hira Nepia	Te Otina Ruru
	💍 1913/551
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer (Aboriginal Native of New Zealand)	Domestic Duties (Aboriginal Native of New Zealand)
Age	18	18
Dwelling Place	Puha	Puha, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	1 month	7 months
Marriage Place	The office of The Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	13/2358
Consent	Toro Nepia (Father), Karaitiana Ruru (Father)
Date of Certificate	19 April 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

23 April 1913

John Howard Keates
Ethel Violet Paine Hayward

John Henry Keates
Ethel Violet Daisy Hayward
💍 1913/552

Bachelor
Spinster

Shop Assistant
Lady Help

30
25

Gisborne
Gisborne

7 months
3 months

The office of The Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

13/2359

23 April 1913

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	70
Date of Notice	23 April 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Howard Keates	Ethel Violet Paine Hayward
BDM Match (83%)	John Henry Keates	Ethel Violet Daisy Hayward
	💍 1913/552
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shop Assistant	Lady Help
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	7 months	3 months
Marriage Place	The office of The Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	13/2359
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 April 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

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).