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 667

District of Owhango Quarter ending 30 June 1914 Registrar A. Naylor

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

2 April 1914

Frances Thomas Sadd
Alice Maud Rhodes

Francis Thomas Sadd
Alice Maud Rhode
💍 1914/9293

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Domestic Duties

24
23

Raurimu
Raurimu

3 days
3 days

Church of England, Raurimu

4465

2 April 1914

Rev. J. B. Abbott

No	17
Date of Notice	2 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frances Thomas Sadd	Alice Maud Rhodes
BDM Match (94%)	Francis Thomas Sadd	Alice Maud Rhode
	💍 1914/9293
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Domestic Duties
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Raurimu	Raurimu
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Church of England, Raurimu
Folio	4465
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. B. Abbott

9 April 1914

Arnold Cleff Petersen
Alice Louisa Peterson

Arnold Olaf Petersen
Alice Louisa Petersen
💍 1914/843

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Housemaid

27
23

Kakahi
Kakahi

12 months
6 weeks

Church of England, Kakahi

4285

9 April 1914

Rev. J. C. Abbott

No	18
Date of Notice	9 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arnold Cleff Petersen	Alice Louisa Peterson
BDM Match (90%)	Arnold Olaf Petersen	Alice Louisa Petersen
	💍 1914/843
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Housemaid
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Kakahi	Kakahi
Length of Residence	12 months	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Church of England, Kakahi
Folio	4285
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Abbott

11 May 1914

William Henry Hinch
Ellen Tommal Hinch

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

21
16

Owhango
Owhango

3 years
2 years

Registrar's Office, Owhango

2219

John William Finch, father

11 May 1914

F. Hinch, Registrar

No	19
Date of Notice	11 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Hinch	Ellen Tommal Hinch
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	21	16
Dwelling Place	Owhango	Owhango
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Owhango
Folio	2219
Consent	John William Finch, father
Date of Certificate	11 May 1914
Officiating Minister	F. Hinch, Registrar

8 June 1914

Frederick Charles Broadbent
Grace Violet Francis

Fredrick Charles Broadbent
Grace Violet Francis
💍 1914/8503

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Domestic

25
22

Owhango
Owhango

4 Days
4 Days

Residence of W. Francis, Owhango

2221

8 June 1914

Rev. J. G. Dabourne

No	20
Date of Notice	8 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Charles Broadbent	Grace Violet Francis
BDM Match (98%)	Fredrick Charles Broadbent	Grace Violet Francis
	💍 1914/8503
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Domestic
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Owhango	Owhango
Length of Residence	4 Days	4 Days
Marriage Place	Residence of W. Francis, Owhango
Folio	2221
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 June 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Dabourne

10 June 1914

William Terris Ranson
Olive Agnes Samson

William Terris
Olive Agnes Sanson
💍 1914/8502

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic

23
19

Taumarunui
Owhango

2 years
4 Days

Residence of D. S. Samson, Taumarunui

2220

D. S. Ranson, father

10 June 1914

Rev. J. G. Dabourne, Owhango

No	21
Date of Notice	10 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Terris Ranson	Olive Agnes Samson
BDM Match (81%)	William Terris	Olive Agnes Sanson
	💍 1914/8502
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Taumarunui	Owhango
Length of Residence	2 years	4 Days
Marriage Place	Residence of D. S. Samson, Taumarunui
Folio	2220
Consent	D. S. Ranson, father
Date of Certificate	10 June 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Dabourne, Owhango

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).