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 363

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 31 March 1914 Registrar Henry Stewart 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

3 January 1914

Thomas Valentine Aston
Thurza Todd

Thomas Valentine Aston
Thurza Todd
💍 1914/7001

Widower
Spinster

Painter
Cook

39
32

Gisborne
Gisborne, Poverty Bay

32 years
7 months

The office of The Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

14/700

3 January 1914

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	1
Date of Notice	3 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Valentine Aston	Thurza Todd
	💍 1914/7001
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Cook
Age	39	32
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	32 years	7 months
Marriage Place	The office of The Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	14/700
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

3 January 1914

Samuel Waaka Mara Pera
Mere Te Kai

Waaka Mara Pera
Mere Te Kai
💍 1914/7012

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Household Duties

28
19

Te Karaka, Poverty Bay
Awapuni, Poverty Bay

10 years

The office of The Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

14/701

Erena Tekai (mother)

3 January 1914

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	2
Date of Notice	3 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Waaka Mara Pera	Mere Te Kai
BDM Match (84%)	Waaka Mara Pera	Mere Te Kai
	💍 1914/7012
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Household Duties
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Te Karaka, Poverty Bay	Awapuni, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	10 years
Marriage Place	The office of The Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	14/701
Consent	Erena Tekai (mother)
Date of Certificate	3 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

5 January 1914

Hubert George Medium
Rhoda McIvor

Hubert George Medwin
Rhoda McIvor
💍 1914/7065

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Tailoress

28
28

Gisborne
Gisborne

2 years
2 months

Private residence of Miss Clifford Street, No. 11 Gisborne

14/797

5 January 1914

Rev William Grant, Presbyterian Minister

No	3
Date of Notice	5 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hubert George Medium	Rhoda McIvor
BDM Match (93%)	Hubert George Medwin	Rhoda McIvor
	💍 1914/7065
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Tailoress
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	2 years	2 months
Marriage Place	Private residence of Miss Clifford Street, No. 11 Gisborne
Folio	14/797
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev William Grant, Presbyterian Minister

5 January 1914

Henry Westbrook
Marion Adamson

Henry Westbrooke
Marion Adamson
💍 1914/7066

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Servant

29
23

Gisborne
Gisborne

5 years
6 months

St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Gisborne

14/798

5 January 1914

Rev William Grant, Presbyterian Minister

No	4
Date of Notice	5 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Westbrook	Marion Adamson
BDM Match (97%)	Henry Westbrooke	Marion Adamson
	💍 1914/7066
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Servant
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	5 years	6 months
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Gisborne
Folio	14/798
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev William Grant, Presbyterian Minister

6 January 1914

David Sutherland
Minnie Evelyn Watt

David Sutherland
Minnie Evelyn Watt
💍 1914/7079

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

25
26

Tiniroto, Poverty Bay
Patutahi, Poverty Bay

20 years
20 years

Private residence of the bride's parents, Patutahi, Waitotara

14/812

6 January 1914

Rev Henry Thos. Blair, Presbyterian Minister

No	5
Date of Notice	6 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Sutherland	Minnie Evelyn Watt
	💍 1914/7079
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Tiniroto, Poverty Bay	Patutahi, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Private residence of the bride's parents, Patutahi, Waitotara
Folio	14/812
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev Henry Thos. Blair, Presbyterian Minister

9 January 1914

Thomas Talup
Alice Greaves

Thomas Fahy
Alice Greaves
💍 1914/7019

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

22
16

Gisborne
Gisborne, Poverty Bay

3 years
12 months

The office of The Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

14/702

Greaves (Father)

9 January 1914

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	6
Date of Notice	9 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Talup	Alice Greaves
BDM Match (83%)	Thomas Fahy	Alice Greaves
	💍 1914/7019
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	22	16
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	3 years	12 months
Marriage Place	The office of The Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	14/702
Consent	Greaves (Father)
Date of Certificate	9 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

12 January 1914

Harry Francis Heder
Joy Eveline Munro

Harry Francis Lester
Joy Eveline Munro
💍 1914/7067

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Nurse

21
20

Gisborne
Gisborne

4 years
2 years

St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Gisborne

14/799

None in column authorised to consent (in 14 days notice)

12 January 1914

Rev William Grant, Presbyterian Minister

No	7
Date of Notice	12 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Francis Heder	Joy Eveline Munro
BDM Match (93%)	Harry Francis Lester	Joy Eveline Munro
	💍 1914/7067
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Nurse
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	4 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Gisborne
Folio	14/799
Consent	None in column authorised to consent (in 14 days notice)
Date of Certificate	12 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev William Grant, Presbyterian Minister

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).