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 769

District of Te Aroha Quarter ending 30 September 1914 Registrar J. Hollywood

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

20 July 1914

Arthur Henry Clayton
Beatrice Stella Waddell

Arthur Henry Clayton
Beatrice Stella Waddell
💍 1914/5203

Divorced
Spinster

Builder
Domestic duties

41
39

Auckland
Auckland

41 years
39 years

Registrar of Marriages, Te Aroha

14/9079

20 July 1914

J. Hollywood, Registrar

No	23
Date of Notice	20 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Henry Clayton	Beatrice Stella Waddell
	💍 1914/5203
Condition	Divorced	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Domestic duties
Age	41	39
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	41 years	39 years
Marriage Place	Registrar of Marriages, Te Aroha
Folio	14/9079
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1914
Officiating Minister	J. Hollywood, Registrar

28 July 1914

Thomas Joseph McDonald
Doris Louise Vickery

Thomas Joseph McDonald
Doris Louise Vickery
💍 1914/2915

Bachelor
Spinster

Restaurant Keeper
Waitress

40
21

Haurimu
Tauranga

9 years
10 years

Roman Catholic Church, Te Aroha

14/6767

28 July 1914

Rev. James McGuinness, Roman Catholic

No	24
Date of Notice	28 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Joseph McDonald	Doris Louise Vickery
	💍 1914/2915
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Restaurant Keeper	Waitress
Age	40	21
Dwelling Place	Haurimu	Tauranga
Length of Residence	9 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Te Aroha
Folio	14/6767
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. James McGuinness, Roman Catholic

4 August 1914

Alban George Rushbrooke
Elinor McLaren

Allan George Rushbrooke
Elinor Mclaren
💍 1914/2888

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

28
23

Te Awamutu
Manawaru

7 years
13 years

Church of England

14/6715

4 August 1914

Rev. Henry Montague Smyth, Church of England

No	25
Date of Notice	4 August 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alban George Rushbrooke	Elinor McLaren
BDM Match (94%)	Allan George Rushbrooke	Elinor Mclaren
	💍 1914/2888
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Te Awamutu	Manawaru
Length of Residence	7 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	14/6715
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 August 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Henry Montague Smyth, Church of England

14 August 1914

Norman Bonner Eastwood
Eveline Cooper

Norman Bonnar Eastwood
Eveline Cooper
💍 1914/1151

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

27
21

Manawaru
Te Aroha West

18 years
15 months

Private Residence of George Cooper, Te Aroha West

14/4846

14 August 1914

William Lee, Presbyterian

No	26
Date of Notice	14 August 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Bonner Eastwood	Eveline Cooper
BDM Match (98%)	Norman Bonnar Eastwood	Eveline Cooper
	💍 1914/1151
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Manawaru	Te Aroha West
Length of Residence	18 years	15 months
Marriage Place	Private Residence of George Cooper, Te Aroha West
Folio	14/4846
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 August 1914
Officiating Minister	William Lee, Presbyterian

24 August 1914

James Stobie
Martha Alice Ann Fitton

James Stabie
Martha Alice Ann Fitton
💍 1914/2889

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

35
26

Waihou
Waihou

5 years
13 years

Private Residence of Edmund Fitton, Waihou

14/6716

24 August 1914

Rev. H. M. Smyth, Church of England

No	27
Date of Notice	24 August 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Stobie	Martha Alice Ann Fitton
BDM Match (96%)	James Stabie	Martha Alice Ann Fitton
	💍 1914/2889
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	35	26
Dwelling Place	Waihou	Waihou
Length of Residence	5 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Private Residence of Edmund Fitton, Waihou
Folio	14/6716
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 August 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. M. Smyth, Church of England

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).