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 241

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 December 1914 Registrar [illegible]

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

1349

27 October 1914

Samuel John Murray
Winifred Eliza Wimer

Samuel John Murray
Winifred Eliza Wymer
💍 1914/4545

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

29
27

Auckland
Onehunga

5 years
10 years

Methodist Parsonage, Pukekohe

8442

27 October 1914

Rev. J. Duthie, Methodist

No	1349
Date of Notice	27 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel John Murray	Winifred Eliza Wimer
BDM Match (98%)	Samuel John Murray	Winifred Eliza Wymer
	💍 1914/4545
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Onehunga
Length of Residence	5 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage, Pukekohe
Folio	8442
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Duthie, Methodist

1350

27 October 1914

Francis Lane Savage
Charlotte Cecilia Matthews

Francis Lane Savage
Charlotte Cecilia Matthews
💍 1914/4562

Bachelor
Spinster

Waiter

29
19

Auckland
Auckland

9 months
10 years

St. Matthew's Church, Auckland

8460

Charles Matthews, father

27 October 1914

Rev. W. W. Pilling, Anglican

No	1350
Date of Notice	27 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Lane Savage	Charlotte Cecilia Matthews
	💍 1914/4562
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Waiter
Age	29	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	9 months	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Auckland
Folio	8460
Consent	Charles Matthews, father
Date of Certificate	27 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. W. Pilling, Anglican

1351

27 October 1914

Martin Sunley
Elizabeth Ann Wright

Martin Burke
Elizabeth Anne Wright
💍 1914/4547

Bachelor
Spinster

Assistant Grocer

30
23

Auckland
Newton

8 months
9 months

Epiphany Church

8444

27 October 1914

Rev. E. S. Lush, Anglican

No	1351
Date of Notice	27 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Sunley	Elizabeth Ann Wright
BDM Match (82%)	Martin Burke	Elizabeth Anne Wright
	💍 1914/4547
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Assistant Grocer
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Newton
Length of Residence	8 months	9 months
Marriage Place	Epiphany Church
Folio	8444
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. S. Lush, Anglican

1352

27 October 1914

William Henry Elderton
Edith Sarah Saunders

William Henry Elderton
Edith Sarah Saunders
💍 1914/5300

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

33
37

Auckland
Mt. Eden

2 years
13 years

Residence of Rev. H. Elliott, King Edward Rd.

9225

27 October 1914

Rev. H. Elliott, Baptist

No	1352
Date of Notice	27 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Elderton	Edith Sarah Saunders
	💍 1914/5300
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	33	37
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Mt. Eden
Length of Residence	2 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. H. Elliott, King Edward Rd.
Folio	9225
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Elliott, Baptist

1353

27 October 1914

Charles Samuel Ruston
Mary Emma Browne

Charles Samuel Ruston
Mary Munn Browne
💍 1914/4549

Bachelor
Spinster

Sailor

22
21

Auckland
Devonport

6 months
6 months

House of J. Ruston, Rutland Rd.

8424

27 October 1914

Rev. B. B. Harrison, Methodist

No	1353
Date of Notice	27 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Samuel Ruston	Mary Emma Browne
BDM Match (88%)	Charles Samuel Ruston	Mary Munn Browne
	💍 1914/4549
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sailor
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Devonport
Length of Residence	6 months	6 months
Marriage Place	House of J. Ruston, Rutland Rd.
Folio	8424
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. B. Harrison, Methodist

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).