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 721

District of Rotorua Quarter ending 31 March 1914 Registrar Charles Vernon Roberts

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

6 January 1914

Henry Patrick Keane
Elsie Penney

Henry Patrick Keane
Elsie Penney
💍 1914/6948

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Clerk

33
33

Rotorua
Ngongotaha

3 days
18 years

St Michael's Roman Catholic Church at Ohinemutu

907

6 January 1914

Rev. Dean A. Lightheart

No	1
Date of Notice	6 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Patrick Keane	Elsie Penney
	💍 1914/6948
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Clerk
Age	33	33
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Ngongotaha
Length of Residence	3 days	18 years
Marriage Place	St Michael's Roman Catholic Church at Ohinemutu
Folio	907
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dean A. Lightheart

23 January 1914

James Esslemont
Alice Lucy Taylor

James Esslemont
Alice Lucy Taylor
💍 1914/7056

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Tailoress

29
32

Rotorua
Rotorua

3 days
3 months

St Luke's Anglican Church, Haupapa Street, Rotorua

789

23 January 1914

Rev. J. L. Greet

No	2
Date of Notice	23 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Esslemont	Alice Lucy Taylor
	💍 1914/7056
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Tailoress
Age	29	32
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	3 days	3 months
Marriage Place	St Luke's Anglican Church, Haupapa Street, Rotorua
Folio	789
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. L. Greet

2 February 1914

Sidney Royden Meyer
Jessy Emily Moore

Sidney Royden Meyer
Jessy Emily Moore
💍 1914/31

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Cook

22
20

Rotorua
Rotorua

14 months
4 months

Registrar's Office, Courthouse

315

No person resident in Dominion having authority - Declaration made.

2 February 1914

Charles Vernon Roberts, Registrar

No	3
Date of Notice	2 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney Royden Meyer	Jessy Emily Moore
	💍 1914/31
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Cook
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	14 months	4 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Courthouse
Folio	315
Consent	No person resident in Dominion having authority - Declaration made.
Date of Certificate	2 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Charles Vernon Roberts, Registrar

2 February 1914

Pierce James Grace
Charlotte Elizabeth Pickering

Pierce James Grace
Charlotte Elizabeth Pickering
💍 1914/6949

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Household duties

39
31

Rotorua
Rotorua

5 years
2 years

St Michael's Roman Catholic Church at Ohinemutu

908

2 February 1914

Rev. Dean A. Lightheart

No	4
Date of Notice	2 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Pierce James Grace	Charlotte Elizabeth Pickering
	💍 1914/6949
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Household duties
Age	39	31
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	5 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St Michael's Roman Catholic Church at Ohinemutu
Folio	908
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dean A. Lightheart

6 February 1914

Leonard Stokes
Mildred Jane Black

Leonard Stokes
Mildred Jane Black
💍 1914/7052

Bachelor
Spinster

Musician
Dressmaker

30
23

Rotorua
Rotorua

8 months
3 years

St Luke's Anglican Church, Haupapa Street, Rotorua

785

6 February 1914

Arch. Charles A. Tisdall

No	5
Date of Notice	6 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Stokes	Mildred Jane Black
	💍 1914/7052
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Musician	Dressmaker
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	8 months	3 years
Marriage Place	St Luke's Anglican Church, Haupapa Street, Rotorua
Folio	785
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Arch. Charles A. Tisdall

9 February 1914

Samuel Thomas Pettigrew Price
Riverina Marsom McLellan

Samuel Thomas Pettigrew Price
Riverina Marsom McLellan
💍 1914/7053

Bachelor
Widow

Carpenter
Dressmaker

24
28

Rotorua
Rotorua

3 days
3 months

St Luke's Anglican Church, Haupapa Street, Rotorua

786

9 February 1914

Arch. Charles A. Tisdall

No	6
Date of Notice	9 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Thomas Pettigrew Price	Riverina Marsom McLellan
	💍 1914/7053
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Carpenter	Dressmaker
Age	24	28
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	3 days	3 months
Marriage Place	St Luke's Anglican Church, Haupapa Street, Rotorua
Folio	786
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Arch. Charles A. Tisdall

23 March 1914

Bernard Colenso Blacklock
Kathleen Harrison

Bernard Colenso Blacklock
Kathleen Harrison
💍 1914/7054

Bachelor
Spinster

Bush Contractor
Domestic Duties

26
20

Rotorua
Rotorua

10 days
5 months

St Luke's Anglican Church, Haupapa Street, Rotorua

787

Father William Harrison

23 March 1914

Arch. Chas. A. Tisdall

No	7
Date of Notice	23 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bernard Colenso Blacklock	Kathleen Harrison
	💍 1914/7054
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bush Contractor	Domestic Duties
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	10 days	5 months
Marriage Place	St Luke's Anglican Church, Haupapa Street, Rotorua
Folio	787
Consent	Father William Harrison
Date of Certificate	23 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Arch. Chas. A. Tisdall

23 March 1914

Frederick Francis Bailey Bramley
Hilda Ruth Skellern

Frederick Francis Bailey Bramley
Hilda Ruth Skelleru
💍 1914/7055

Bachelor
Spinster

Timber Worker
Assistant Postmistress

30
21

Ngatira
Mamaku

4 years
11 years

St Luke's Anglican Church, Haupapa Street, Rotorua

788

23 March 1914

Arch. Chas. A. Tisdall

No	8
Date of Notice	23 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Francis Bailey Bramley	Hilda Ruth Skellern
BDM Match (97%)	Frederick Francis Bailey Bramley	Hilda Ruth Skelleru
	💍 1914/7055
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Timber Worker	Assistant Postmistress
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Ngatira	Mamaku
Length of Residence	4 years	11 years
Marriage Place	St Luke's Anglican Church, Haupapa Street, Rotorua
Folio	788
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Arch. Chas. A. Tisdall

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).