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 765

District of Te Aroha Quarter ending 30 June 1914 Registrar Mollywod

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

3 April 1914

Allan Tudor James
Mildred Amy Taylor

Alban Tudor James
Mildred Amy Taylor
💍 1914/8536

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor
Domestic duties

26
24

Hamilton
Waihou

9 years
3 months

Private residence of W. A. Taylor, Waihou

14/2256

3 April 1914

Rev. W. C. Blair, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	3 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan Tudor James	Mildred Amy Taylor
BDM Match (97%)	Alban Tudor James	Mildred Amy Taylor
	💍 1914/8536
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor	Domestic duties
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Waihou
Length of Residence	9 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Private residence of W. A. Taylor, Waihou
Folio	14/2256
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. C. Blair, Presbyterian

15 April 1914

Launcelot Middleton Robinson
Alice Pauline Herbert Biggs

Lancelot Middleton Robinson
Alice Pauline Herbert Biggs
💍 1914/8535

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Book-Keeper

21
20

Te Aroha
Te Aroha

15 months
20 years

Private residence of Mrs. Pauline Biggs

14/2255

Pauline Biggs, mother

15 April 1914

Rev. W. C. Blair, Presbyterian

No	10
Date of Notice	15 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Launcelot Middleton Robinson	Alice Pauline Herbert Biggs
BDM Match (98%)	Lancelot Middleton Robinson	Alice Pauline Herbert Biggs
	💍 1914/8535
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Book-Keeper
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Te Aroha	Te Aroha
Length of Residence	15 months	20 years
Marriage Place	Private residence of Mrs. Pauline Biggs
Folio	14/2255
Consent	Pauline Biggs, mother
Date of Certificate	15 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. C. Blair, Presbyterian

17 April 1914

Percy Rushton
Ella Frances Perrott

Percy Rushton
Ella Frances Perrott
💍 1914/8537

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

30
22

Waitoa
Waitoa

5 years
6 years

Methodist Church, Waitoa

14/2257

17 April 1914

Rev. Percy R. Paris, Methodist

No	11
Date of Notice	17 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Rushton	Ella Frances Perrott
	💍 1914/8537
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Waitoa	Waitoa
Length of Residence	5 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Waitoa
Folio	14/2257
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Percy R. Paris, Methodist

12 May 1914

Ernest David Carswell

Bachelor

Wharf Labourer

Waitoa

8 years

Private residence J. Bell, Manawaru

14/2258

James Carswell, father of groom

12 May 1914

Rev. Percy R. Paris, Methodist

No	12
Date of Notice	12 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest David Carswell
Condition	Bachelor
Profession	Wharf Labourer
Age	20
Dwelling Place	Waitoa
Length of Residence	8 years
Marriage Place	Private residence J. Bell, Manawaru
Folio	14/2258
Consent	James Carswell, father of groom
Date of Certificate	12 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Percy R. Paris, Methodist

18 May 1914

Sidney Thomas Morrison Cox
Christina Nelson

Sydney Thomas Morrison Cox
Christina Nelson
💍 1914/8517

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

27
32

Waihou
Waihou

3 years
1 year

Private residence Neils Christiansen Nelson, Eastport Rd., Waihou

14/2261

18 May 1914

Rev. P. R. Paris, Methodist

No	13
Date of Notice	18 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney Thomas Morrison Cox	Christina Nelson
BDM Match (98%)	Sydney Thomas Morrison Cox	Christina Nelson
	💍 1914/8517
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	27	32
Dwelling Place	Waihou	Waihou
Length of Residence	3 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Private residence Neils Christiansen Nelson, Eastport Rd., Waihou
Folio	14/2261
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. R. Paris, Methodist

23 May 1914

Hugh Spickey
Ethel Heggies

Hugh Hickey
Ethel Higgie
💍 1914/2913

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

21
24

Waihou
Waihou

2 years
1 year

Roman Catholic Church, Te Aroha

14/6765

23 May 1914

Rev. James McQuinn, Roman Catholic

No	14
Date of Notice	23 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Spickey	Ethel Heggies
BDM Match (84%)	Hugh Hickey	Ethel Higgie
	💍 1914/2913
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	21	24
Dwelling Place	Waihou	Waihou
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Te Aroha
Folio	14/6765
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. James McQuinn, Roman Catholic

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).