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 611

District of Morrinsville Quarter ending 31 December 1914 Registrar Sudarlow

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

5 October 1914

John Thomas Finnerly
Olive Featherstone Breedon

John Thomas Finnerty
Olive Featherstone Breckon
💍 1914/3666

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

23
22

Morrinsville
Morrinsville

5 weeks
8 weeks

Residence of John Hall, Johnstone, Morrinsville

14/7492

5 October 1914

Thos. R. Griffin, Wesleyan

No	13
Date of Notice	5 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Finnerly	Olive Featherstone Breedon
BDM Match (94%)	John Thomas Finnerty	Olive Featherstone Breckon
	💍 1914/3666
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Morrinsville	Morrinsville
Length of Residence	5 weeks	8 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of John Hall, Johnstone, Morrinsville
Folio	14/7492
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Thos. R. Griffin, Wesleyan

13 October 1914

George Bentick Cotton
Florence Elizabeth Holmes

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Domestic duties

26
19

Morrinsville
Morrinsville

6 years
5 months

Residence of Ebenezer Bishop, Morrinsville

Not applicable - See attached, no application for certificate made

No	14
Date of Notice	13 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Bentick Cotton	Florence Elizabeth Holmes
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Domestic duties
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Morrinsville	Morrinsville
Length of Residence	6 years	5 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Ebenezer Bishop, Morrinsville
Folio	Not applicable - See attached, no application for certificate made
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister

17 November 1914

Alexander Thompson
Pearl Ethel May Cullen

Alexander Thompson
Pearl Ethel May Cullen
💍 1914/3689

Bachelor
Spinster

Livery Stable Proprietor
Domestic Duties

32
30

Morrinsville
Morrinsville

5 years
11 months

Anglican Church, Morrinsville

14/7491

19 November 1914

Jacob Russell, Anglican

No	15
Date of Notice	17 November 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Thompson	Pearl Ethel May Cullen
	💍 1914/3689
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Livery Stable Proprietor	Domestic Duties
Age	32	30
Dwelling Place	Morrinsville	Morrinsville
Length of Residence	5 years	11 months
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Morrinsville
Folio	14/7491
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 November 1914
Officiating Minister	Jacob Russell, Anglican

10 December 1914

Ernest Addy
Mary Ellen Barrett

Ernest Addy
Mary Ellen Barrett
💍 1914/3688

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic Duties

21
23

Morrinsville
Morrinsville

7 days
4 days

Registrar's Office, Morrinsville

14/7490

10 December 1914

R. Burbon, Registrar

No	16
Date of Notice	10 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Addy	Mary Ellen Barrett
	💍 1914/3688
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Morrinsville	Morrinsville
Length of Residence	7 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Morrinsville
Folio	14/7490
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 December 1914
Officiating Minister	R. Burbon, Registrar

28 December 1914

Robert Atkinson
Mary Irene Whinwray

Robert Atkinson
Mary Irene Whinwray
💍 1914/3687

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

24
19

Morrinsville
Morrinsville

18 months
2 years

Baptist Church, Morrinsville

14/7489

William Robinson, Woodhall, Whinwray

28 December 1914

Arthur Anstice, Baptist

No	17
Date of Notice	28 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Atkinson	Mary Irene Whinwray
	💍 1914/3687
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Morrinsville	Morrinsville
Length of Residence	18 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Morrinsville
Folio	14/7489
Consent	William Robinson, Woodhall, Whinwray
Date of Certificate	28 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Arthur Anstice, Baptist

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).