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 659

District of Opotiki Quarter ending 31 December 1914 Registrar G. O. Stephenson

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

22 October 1914

Maurice McCarthy
Herena Te Waru

Maurice McCarthy
Herena Te Waru
💍 1914/3681

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

68
66

Opotiki
Opotiki

50 years
50 years

In the house occupied by Bridegroom, Opotiki

7506

22 October 1914

Rev. J. W. Smailes, Roman Catholic

No	22
Date of Notice	22 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Maurice McCarthy	Herena Te Waru
	💍 1914/3681
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	68	66
Dwelling Place	Opotiki	Opotiki
Length of Residence	50 years	50 years
Marriage Place	In the house occupied by Bridegroom, Opotiki
Folio	7506
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Smailes, Roman Catholic

24 October 1914

Stephen Petrie
Mary Butler

Stephen Petrie
Mary Butler
💍 1914/3679

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

28
24

Opotiki
Opotiki

7 years
7 years

At the residence of the Bride's father (J. M. Butler), Opotiki

7504

24 October 1914

Rev. Donald Mackenzie

No	23
Date of Notice	24 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stephen Petrie	Mary Butler
	💍 1914/3679
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Opotiki	Opotiki
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of the Bride's father (J. M. Butler), Opotiki
Folio	7504
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Donald Mackenzie

4 November 1914

Christopher David Devonald Hopkins
Leavina Kelly

Christopher David Donald Hopkins
Leavina Kelly
💍 1914/3680

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Tailoress

24
21

Opotiki
Opotiki

4 years
21 years

St. Mary's Church, Opotiki

7505

4 November 1914

Rev. G. W. Smailes

No	24
Date of Notice	4 November 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Christopher David Devonald Hopkins	Leavina Kelly
BDM Match (97%)	Christopher David Donald Hopkins	Leavina Kelly
	💍 1914/3680
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Tailoress
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Opotiki	Opotiki
Length of Residence	4 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Opotiki
Folio	7505
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Smailes

28 November 1914

Whene Tawhias
Paeroa Ranapia

Whana Tawhiao
Paeroa Ranapia
💍 1914/3678

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

20
20

Tauranga
Opotiki

3 1/2 days
20 years

St. Stephen's Church, Opotiki

7503

Tawhias Manao, Matini Ranapia

28 November 1914

Rev. G. W. Smailes

No	25
Date of Notice	28 November 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Whene Tawhias	Paeroa Ranapia
BDM Match (88%)	Whana Tawhiao	Paeroa Ranapia
	💍 1914/3678
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Tauranga	Opotiki
Length of Residence	3 1/2 days	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Stephen's Church, Opotiki
Folio	7503
Consent	Tawhias Manao, Matini Ranapia
Date of Certificate	28 November 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Smailes

17 December 1914

Charles Lingman
Annie Michael

Charles Lingman
Annie Michael
💍 1914/3677

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Housemaid

26
21

Opotiki
Opotiki

4 days
21 years

At the office of the Registrar, Opotiki

7502

17 December 1914

G. O. Stephenson, Registrar

No	26
Date of Notice	17 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Lingman	Annie Michael
	💍 1914/3677
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Housemaid
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Opotiki	Opotiki
Length of Residence	4 days	21 years
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar, Opotiki
Folio	7502
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 December 1914
Officiating Minister	G. O. Stephenson, Registrar

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).