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 167

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 September 1914 Registrar G. W. S. Samson

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

991

3 August 1914

Robert Foodward Telfer
Amelia Elizabeth McGregor

Robert Goodsman Telfer
Amelia Elizabeth McGregor
💍 1914/1227

Widower
Widow

Gardener

61
58

Auckland
Auckland

3 years
2 years

Registrar's office

4904

3 August 1914

Registrar

No	991
Date of Notice	3 August 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Foodward Telfer	Amelia Elizabeth McGregor
BDM Match (89%)	Robert Goodsman Telfer	Amelia Elizabeth McGregor
	💍 1914/1227
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Gardener
Age	61	58
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's office
Folio	4904
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 August 1914
Officiating Minister	Registrar

992

3 August 1914

Albert Edward Raper
Ellen Pustina Tracey

Albert Edward Seager
Ellen Gustenia Tracey
💍 1914/1311

Bachelor
Spinster

Foreman

25
24

Auckland
Auckland

3 years
9 years

St. Matthew's Church

4982

3 August 1914

Rev. E. P. Pillans, Anglican

No	992
Date of Notice	3 August 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward Raper	Ellen Pustina Tracey
BDM Match (85%)	Albert Edward Seager	Ellen Gustenia Tracey
	💍 1914/1311
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Foreman
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	9 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church
Folio	4982
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 August 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. P. Pillans, Anglican

993

4 August 1914

Henry Payne Porteous
Margaret Porteous

Henry Payne
Margaret Porteous
💍 1914/1465

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

24
20

Auckland
Auckland

12 years
life

Church of Christ, Ponsonby Rd

5135

William Porteous, Legal Guardian

4 August 1914

Rev. A. D. Turner, Church of Christ

No	993
Date of Notice	4 August 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Payne Porteous	Margaret Porteous
BDM Match (78%)	Henry Payne	Margaret Porteous
	💍 1914/1465
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	12 years	life
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Ponsonby Rd
Folio	5135
Consent	William Porteous, Legal Guardian
Date of Certificate	4 August 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. D. Turner, Church of Christ

994

4 August 1914

Andrew Mitchell Stirling
Laura Isabella Milne

Andrew Mitchell Stirling
Laura Isabella Milne
💍 1914/5179

Bachelor
Spinster

Manager, Dairy Factory

29
22

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
7 years

St. Stephen's Church, Ponsonby

9055

4 August 1914

Rev. J. F. Jolly, Presbyterian

No	994
Date of Notice	4 August 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Mitchell Stirling	Laura Isabella Milne
	💍 1914/5179
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Manager, Dairy Factory
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St. Stephen's Church, Ponsonby
Folio	9055
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 August 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Jolly, Presbyterian

995

4 August 1914

Valentine Meagher
Marjorie Mary Maxwell Wood

Valentine Meagher
Marjorie Mary Maxwell Wood
💍 1914/5180

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

37
21

Auckland
Auckland

20 years
1 year

St. Benedict's Church

9056

4 August 1914

Rt. Rev. P. F. Phelan, Roman Catholic

No	995
Date of Notice	4 August 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Valentine Meagher	Marjorie Mary Maxwell Wood
	💍 1914/5180
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	37	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	20 years	1 year
Marriage Place	St. Benedict's Church
Folio	9056
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 August 1914
Officiating Minister	Rt. Rev. P. F. Phelan, Roman Catholic

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).