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 373

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 31 March 1914 Registrar Henry Stuart 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

25 March 1914

Joseph William Williams
Hilda Millicent May Page

Joseph William Williams
Hilda Millicent May Page
💍 1914/5977

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Waitress

25
22

Gisborne
Gisborne

4 years
3 years

St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church

3538

25 March 1914

Rev. William Grant, Presbyterian Minister

No	58
Date of Notice	25 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph William Williams	Hilda Millicent May Page
	💍 1914/5977
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Waitress
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church
Folio	3538
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Grant, Presbyterian Minister

30 March 1914

Frederick Brougham Bousfield
Maud Cumming

Frederick Brougham Bonsfield
Maud Cumming
💍 1914/9261

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

24
24

Te Hapara, Gisborne
Gisborne

1 year
About 14 years

Holy Trinity Church

4310

30 March 1914

Rev. Leslie Dawson Thomas, Church of England

No	59
Date of Notice	30 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Brougham Bousfield	Maud Cumming
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick Brougham Bonsfield	Maud Cumming
	💍 1914/9261
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Te Hapara, Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	1 year	About 14 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church
Folio	4310
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Leslie Dawson Thomas, Church of England

30 March 1914

Hiki Martell
Margaret Kirke

Hiki Martell
Margaret Kirk
💍 1914/7005

Bachelor
Spinster

Fitter (Brewer)
Dressmaker

22
23

Childers Road, Gisborne
Gisborne

12 months
18 months

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

712

30 March 1914

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	60
Date of Notice	30 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hiki Martell	Margaret Kirke
BDM Match (96%)	Hiki Martell	Margaret Kirk
	💍 1914/7005
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fitter (Brewer)	Dressmaker
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Childers Road, Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	12 months	18 months
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	712
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

30 March 1914

John Wallace
Elizabeth Beecher

John Wallace
Elizabeth Beecher
💍 1914/5505

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Housemaid

22
20

Gisborne
Gisborne

4 years
5 1/2 years

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

3060

Mother in Gisborne authorized to consent

14 April 1914

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	61
Date of Notice	30 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Wallace	Elizabeth Beecher
	💍 1914/5505
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Housemaid
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	4 years	5 1/2 years
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	3060
Consent	Mother in Gisborne authorized to consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

31 March 1914

Frederick Elliott Murray
Ivy Goudgill

Frederick Elliott Murray
Ivy Longdill
💍 1914/7006

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Draper

21
26

Gisborne, Poverty Bay
Gisborne

21 years
4 years

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

713

31 March 1914

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	62
Date of Notice	31 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Elliott Murray	Ivy Goudgill
BDM Match (83%)	Frederick Elliott Murray	Ivy Longdill
	💍 1914/7006
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Draper
Age	21	26
Dwelling Place	Gisborne, Poverty Bay	Gisborne
Length of Residence	21 years	4 years
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	713
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1914
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).