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 377

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 30 June 1914 Registrar W. S. 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

27 April 1914

William Henry Fowler
Lily Brierley

William Henry Fowler
Lily Brierley
💍 1914/835

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Domestic Servant

26
25

Gisborne, Poverty Bay
Gisborne

2 1/4 years
About 2 years

Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne

4300

27 April 1914

Rev. Leslie Dawson Thomas, Church of England

No	76
Date of Notice	27 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Fowler	Lily Brierley
	💍 1914/835
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Domestic Servant
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Gisborne, Poverty Bay	Gisborne
Length of Residence	2 1/4 years	About 2 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne
Folio	4300
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Leslie Dawson Thomas, Church of England

28 April 1914

Frederick Hugh Stanley
Isabella Simonson

Frederick Hughie Stanley
Isabella Simonsen
💍 1914/5639

Bachelor
Married woman whose husband has been continually absent from her for 7 years last past

Teamster
Housekeeper

29
39

Motu, Poverty Bay
Motu

3 1/2 years
About 2 years

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

3048

28 April 1914

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	77
Date of Notice	28 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Hugh Stanley	Isabella Simonson
BDM Match (93%)	Frederick Hughie Stanley	Isabella Simonsen
	💍 1914/5639
Condition	Bachelor	Married woman whose husband has been continually absent from her for 7 years last past
Profession	Teamster	Housekeeper
Age	29	39
Dwelling Place	Motu, Poverty Bay	Motu
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	About 2 years
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	3048
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

5 May 1914

George McMillan
Caroline Roderick

George McLachlan
Caroline Roderick
💍 1914/836

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser
Domestic Duties

29
25

Whataupoko
Taruheru, Poverty Bay

11 years
20 years

Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne

4301

5 May 1914

Rev. Leslie Dawson Thomas, Church of England

No	78
Date of Notice	5 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George McMillan	Caroline Roderick
BDM Match (88%)	George McLachlan	Caroline Roderick
	💍 1914/836
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Domestic Duties
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Whataupoko	Taruheru, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	11 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne
Folio	4301
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Leslie Dawson Thomas, Church of England

2 May 1914

Rowland Hill Stuart
Ethel Thompson

Rowland Hill Stuart
Ethel Thompson
💍 1914/5640

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician
Teacher of Music

22
24

Gisborne
Gisborne

2 months
2 months

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

3049

2 May 1914

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	79
Date of Notice	2 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rowland Hill Stuart	Ethel Thompson
	💍 1914/5640
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician	Teacher of Music
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	2 months	2 months
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	3049
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

2 May 1914

Oscar Wellington
Jean Kay

Oscar Wellington
Jean Kay
💍 1914/5641

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Domestic Duties

23
20

Gisborne
Gisborne, Poverty Bay

18 months
5 years

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

3050

None in colony authorized to consent

18 May 1914

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	80
Date of Notice	2 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Oscar Wellington	Jean Kay
	💍 1914/5641
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Domestic Duties
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	18 months	5 years
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	3050
Consent	None in colony authorized to consent
Date of Certificate	18 May 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).