Intentions to Marry, 1914 Auckland, Taranaki

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840454, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1914 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki (1914a), Wellington, Hawke's Bay, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1914b), and Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands (1914c).

Page 151

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 September 1914 Registrar T. Culpan

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

911

17 July 1914

William Stanley McDowell
Ivy Jane Magdalene Melles

William Stanley McDowell
Joy Jane Magdalene Melles
💍 1914/1790

Bachelor
Spinster

Canister Maker

23
23

Auckland
Auckland

12 years
18 years

St. James Church Auckland

14/5461

17 July 1914

Rev. R. L. Walker, Presbyterian

No	911
Date of Notice	17 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Stanley McDowell	Ivy Jane Magdalene Melles
BDM Match (96%)	William Stanley McDowell	Joy Jane Magdalene Melles
	💍 1914/1790
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Canister Maker
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	12 years	18 years
Marriage Place	St. James Church Auckland
Folio	14/5461
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. L. Walker, Presbyterian

912

18 July 1914

William George Little
Kathleen Eunice Beck

William George Little
Kathleen Eunice Beck
💍 1914/1211

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
22

Auckland
Auckland

1 yr 10 months
1 yr 9 months

Registrar's Office Auckland

14/4882

18 July 1914

Registrar

No	912
Date of Notice	18 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Little	Kathleen Eunice Beck
	💍 1914/1211
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 yr 10 months	1 yr 9 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Auckland
Folio	14/4882
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Registrar

913

18 July 1914

Thomas Benjamin Crisp
Florence Lilian Smith

Thomas Benjamin Crisp
Florence Lilian Smith
💍 1914/1426

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Holder-on

23
18

Auckland
Auckland

life
12 years

Roman Catholic Church Onehunga

14/5096

Mary Smith, mother

18 July 1914

Very Rev. W. H. Mahoney, Roman Catholic

No	913
Date of Notice	18 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Benjamin Crisp	Florence Lilian Smith
	💍 1914/1426
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Holder-on
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	life	12 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Onehunga
Folio	14/5096
Consent	Mary Smith, mother
Date of Certificate	18 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. W. H. Mahoney, Roman Catholic

914

20 July 1914

Robert Gilmour
Hazel May Brown

Robert Gilmour
Hazel May Brown
💍 1914/1291

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

23
21

Auckland

10 years
10 years

Residence of R. A. Murray, Claybrook Road, Parnell

14/4978

20 July 1914

Rev. A. A. Murray, Presbyterian

No	914
Date of Notice	20 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Gilmour	Hazel May Brown
	💍 1914/1291
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of R. A. Murray, Claybrook Road, Parnell
Folio	14/4978
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. A. Murray, Presbyterian

915

20 July 1914

John Morris Scott
Mary Ethel Burt

John Morris Scott
May Ethel Burt
💍 1914/1404

Bachelor
Spinster

Photographer

19
20

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
3 days

Church of Christ, Ponsonby Road

14/5073

William Scott, father of groom; Francis Burt, father of bride

20 July 1914

Mr. F. W. Greenwood, Church of Christ

No	915
Date of Notice	20 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Morris Scott	Mary Ethel Burt
BDM Match (97%)	John Morris Scott	May Ethel Burt
	💍 1914/1404
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Photographer
Age	19	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Ponsonby Road
Folio	14/5073
Consent	William Scott, father of groom; Francis Burt, father of bride
Date of Certificate	20 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Mr. F. W. Greenwood, Church of Christ

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).

Primary digitisation of registers between 1855 and 1925 is now complete. Our digitisation volunteers are now working on verifying the currently digitised pages against printed district/page indexes, to identify pages which may have been missed or out of focus. These pages can be re-imaged as required.

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.

How can I help?

You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

You can also support this project by ☕ Buying us a coffee 🌳

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).